


I Just

by joeycholeekang



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love Triangles, dowoon is the perfect maknae, grad student life, howdy my name's jae, i honestly don't know how to tag im sorry, piri and younghyun are half brothers, push and pull, sungjin is a nagging mom, this is set in japan, wonpil is the perfect best friend, younghyun eats a lot as usual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2019-11-09 06:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 44,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17996555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joeycholeekang/pseuds/joeycholeekang
Summary: Lee Jaehee is wrapping up her grad student life in Japan when Kang Younghyun, her bestfriend's brother, shows up. Park Jaehyung, her neighbor, is finally making a move before she leaves for good. A whirlwind of a month is about to ensue.





	1. Hi, Hello

 

> **Prologue**
> 
> **Kang Younghyun**
> 
> “She's leaving tomorrow, Hyung.” Kim Wonpil, my younger half-brother and her best friend, leans against the door frame, seemingly wanting to convey a message he's not supposed to know.
> 
> “Yeah, I heard. Will you be there to see her off?” I ask as casually as I could, and stopped myself to further inquire whether I could come with him. I flip to another page of The Infinity Gauntlet to appear non-chalant.
> 
> “Do you want to come with me?” This time, Wonpil isn't as subtle, with an eyebrow cocked up and that gummy smile plastered on his dumb face.
> 
> “Piri, Whatever you're implying –”
> 
> “Oh come on, you like her –”
> 
> “Please tell me you didn't tell her that.”
> 
> “Of course I didn't. But you're so damn slow, I just might.”
> 
> And with that, Wonpil goes back to the living room, where he was spending time with Jaehee. Gathering some courage from the comic book I was reading, I stand up and followed Piri, only to see the room empty.
> 
> There goes my last chance, I guess.
> 
>  

**1\. Hi, Hello**

_We've been living without_  
_Knowing each other_  
_With a "Hi"_  
_Now, it's you and me_

 

**Lee Jaehee**

It's only been two years and yet I don't think I'll ever get used to the peace that is living as a student in one of my dream places, Japan. And it's all going to end in a few weeks. Two more peaceful months before I go back to Korea and start with job hunting and attempt again to become a decent society-contributing adult. I still have a few errands, one of which is to buy gifts for my friends.

My phone rings and wakes me up from my reverie, and speak of the devil who wanted _very specific_ gifts, it's Wonpil. I answer and turn on the video call option.

“Jaehee-yah~~~ How's the master's degree graduate?” Kim Wonpil, my best friend since high school, is a man of gummy smiles and sunshine rolled into one.

“Hey Piri-Wonpiripiri, what's up? Come to Japan and help me pack all theeeeese stuff??” I give him a view of my room's current state, half-filled boxes and folded clothes scattered on the every nook and cranny possible, in the little space that I call my apartment.

“I wish I could, my dear friend. But there's something more important than that.” He flashes his all-teeth smile, the one he uses when he's about to cash in a favor.

I raise my eyebrows and wait for him to reveal his true intentions.

“Uhm, you know that big Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro, right?”

“Yes, and?”

“I heard that there's a special event there, and that there's a limited edition Pokémon stuff toy that I need you to buy for me.” Wonpil says this so fast, I almost didn't understand. He then adds, “I'll pay you when you get home, I promise! So can you like, go right now?”

I'd do anything for Wonpil, and I have nothing better to do than to stare at my boxes and luggages and wish them into being magically packed, so I agree and tell him that I'll leave in half an hour and call him back when I arrive in the center so he can look at the available stuff and let me know what he wanted.

“Thank you soooo much, Jaehee-yah! I owe you one! Make sure you look nice okay? I have to go now, call me later, byeeeee!”

 

I take a quick shower and put on a fashionable yet weather-appropriate clothing. On my way out the door, I bump into my neighbors and hoobaes from the university here in Japan: Jaehyung, Dowoon, and Sungjin. We all walk down the apartment complex.

“Hey Jae,” I greet Jaehyung, the oldest of the three. They're all on their first year of their respective master's degree, so I am technically they're sunbae.

“Hey Jae, you lookin' good, where are you going on this fine afternoon?” quips Jaehyung.

“Just out for a walk in Ikebukuro. How about the three of you?” I wave a hello to Sungjin and Dowoon. They nod back.

Jae replies in behalf of the group. “Going grocery shopping like the domestic family that we are. Do you have dinner plans? We're cooking tonight!”

“None yet, but I'll message you if I can pop in for a taste.” I wave them good bye and head towards the train station.

 

An hour after that phone call, there is no special event, nor are there limited edition plushies in this particular Pokemon Center. However, a special, limited edition human being is standing inside it, one named Kang Younghyun.

 

**Kang Younghyun**

It's only my second day in Tokyo, and my younger half-brother, Kim Wonpil, pestered me into buying a limited edition plushie for him, in the nearby Pokemon Center. All I have finalized for this month-long sabbatical leave is my lodging for a few days. And thus, with no itinerary in mind, I left my hotel in Ikebukuro, deciding to take a walk and run Piri's errands.

The Pokemon Center is located in one of the floors of Sunshine Tower, and the last time I was in Japan, I went straight there. With time in my hands, I wander around a bit more, and learn that the largest Animate store is in the vicinity as well. Eventually, I go to the center, and lo and behold, there's no such thing as a special event nor a sale on the limited edition plushies that Wonpil was gushing about.

A bit confused on what's going on, I send Wonpil a message. While waiting for his reply, I scroll through instagram, and _her_ photo was first on my feed. Right, she lives in Tokyo. I mused, as if I've forgotten, as if that's not part of the reason why I chose Japan as my vacation destination.

 

The next few seconds were what some people would describe as a blur, but to me, it seemed to happen in slow motion. First, a notification bubble from Wonpil, “Good luck, hyung! ♥” And then, a familiar voice calls my name, “Younghyun?” I turn around, and see her for the first time in two years, and she walks towards me.

She is bright, like the sun, with her curly hair now longer than when she left, and smiling so enthusiastically, her chinita eyes became those happy smiling eyes behind her wire-rimmed glasses. The slo-mo film ends and she's in front of me, waving a hand across my face.

“Younghyun-ssi? It's you, right? You didn't tell me you were in Japan! How are you?” I must have looked like an idiot, dazed at her and smiling so widely. I snap out of it, and reply, “Jaehee-yah, nice meeting you here! I'm on a sabbatical leave, actually. And since I don't have an itinerary yet, Wonpil made me get him gifts already, saying there's a limited edition plushie on sale today.”

And then it clicks in my brain: Wonpil somehow set this up. Seeing her raise a curious eyebrow, I assume that Piri told her the same thing. And here we are, and here's my chance.

She laugh a bit to herself, and I feel myself smiling as well. There's an awkward and yet comfortable air. She's my younger brother's best friend, and we've had interactions whenever she's in our home, but we're not exactly friends. But the fact that we're two people, who know each other, in this foreign land, somehow makes the conversation lighter.

Setting aside the fact that her best friend and my brother set up this meeting, she accompanies me inside the store while I look around. Pretending to choose a gift for home, I listen to her list down the places I should visit. I just mentioned in passing that I don't have an itinerary and yet there she is, a thoughtful and passionate girl, even offering to email me her excel files of her various escapades in Japan. I briefly wonder who she went with, but dismiss the thought and concentrate on her instead.

 

“You're not gonna buy anything yet, aren't you?” She always does this squinting with her eyes when she's suspicious of something. It's so adorable, I probably smiled wider than I should.

I admit to her that I haven't picked anything yet, and tell her that since my lodging is in the area, it'll be easy for me to return to this store. She then suggests that we go another place, and my weeb heart almost confessed to her when we arrived in front of the Animate building.

“Jaehee-yah, how did you know that I liked anime?”

“Younghyun-ssi – “

“Please call me Younghyun?”

She looked at me in the eyes for a short time, and cleared her throat. “Okay, uhm, Younghyun. Wonpil tells me every now and then that we watch the same anime and read the same manga, that's why I thought you'd love it here.”

And Wonpil often tells me the same thing about her. We do have a lot in common, and over the past two years, my wingman of a brother has dropped hints of these, and that I should date her single best friend, but I ignored them because of my… _issues_.

“And you're absolutely correct, thank you for bringing me here, Jaehee-yah.”

 

After almost an hour of going through the shop's several floors of pure anime bliss, we have a few shopping bags on us already. Once again, I pluck courage from the anime leading characters and made a move, without missing the timing this time.

“Hey Jaehee-yah, you're just finalizing your moving out errands, right? Do you have time to accompany me on some of the itineraries you mentioned earlier?”

Her eyes widen for a fraction of a second, and she was about to say something when her phone rings. She excuses herself and picks up the call.

“Hey Jae," she says this in a sing-song. "What's up?”

There seems to be an inside joke just with the greeting, and it sounds like a male's voice on the other end of the line. Who's this Jae interrupting my timing?

“Oh, the dinner? Hmm.” She eyes me, puts her hands over the phone's receiver, and asks me if I have dinner plans. I shake my head and say no, and she goes back to the phone call. “Yeah, count me in, And I'm bringing a friend, is that okay? Yeah? Cool. See you!”

She apologizes for taking the call, and takes a deep breath. “Yeah, sure, I'll tour you around.”

 

**Lee Jaehee**

I'll have to find Wonpil a nice present. But first things first, it's time to make a move, young lady. Be casual, just as you did many times before whenever you're in their house. I tell this to myself a few more times, and I finally call out his name.

“Younghyun!” I wait for him to turn towards my voice, and automatically a huge smile fills my face. We look straight at each other's eyes while I walk closer to him, and there's palpable spark that makes me wonder if it's just my imagination. His feline eyes crinkle at that dazzling smile; at the very least I can assume that he's happy to see me too.

A quick exchange of hellos and I learn that Wonpil worked as transnational cupid, and that Younghyun doesn't have any concrete plans for his month-long stay in this beautiful country.

I remind myself to be casual and don't get too distracted by the way he's staring at me, and to keep eye contact even if it's so hard not to get lost in thought when he's so proximate.

And so I begin our conversation with one of the things I'm confident in: planning a trip.

“I can't emphasize how shocked I am to know that you have a month here and you don't have any itinerary whatsoever.”

“Well I am sorry, Little Miss Planner,” he sports his patented confident smirk, "do you have any suggestions for this lost soul?"

I roll my eyes even though I'm smiling. "I'm going to ignore your mocking tone because you probably know from Piri that I can plan the shit out of your sabbatical vacation."

I then go on listing places to go, from the basic tourist destinations within Tokyo such as Takeshita Street, Shibuya crossing, Omotesando, Meiji Shrine, and Tokyo Metropolitan Building; to the various parks to in Yoyogi, Shinjuku, and Setagaya. Meanwhile, he browses the store, and I fall in step to match his pace.

Younghyun then picks up a Team Rocket Pikachu plushie from the shelf. He turns to me, holds the toy to his face level and says in an annoying and playful tone, "Jaehee-yah~ But you're forgetting the most important thing."

I scowl at the childishness but laugh anyway. "Tokyo is a large place, Younghyun-ssi. There is an abundance of restaurants, I'll let you figure out what kind of food crawl you want to do."

He puts back the plushie into the shelf, and smiles so brightly. He clutches a fistful of his shirt on top of where his heart is supposed to be. "I'm so touched that you know how important food is to me."

"I've been in your household too many times not to know, don't flatter your self too much." Yes, I was reflecting the smile on his face.

He then walks on again, browsing the shelves. I stare at his back and wonder why it's just now that we're interacting like this. Back at home, he almost always leaves Piri and I alone to ourselves. He's always the first to greet me whenever I visit, we exchange pleasantries, he sometimes plays the guitar while Piri smashes the keyboard, but that's about it. We've never talked alone for this long, and I only saw him being annoying towards his younger brother. So yes, this is new. It's like the universe has allowed for me to rediscover Kang Younghyun.

"Jaehee-yah?" I've always liked it when he calls out my name.

"Yes, Younghyun-ssi?" I respond.

He raises one brow. "Try it without the formalities? You're just a year younger than me, and we're in Japan. Call me Younghyun."

I try and fail at this several times. "Maybe a bit more later? And you were about to ask me something?"

He puts the issue to rest for now. "Later. Okay, I'll hold on to that." He winks at me. _What is this sorcery???_ "I really don't have a question actually, I just wanted to call your name."

I pretend not to get giddy at that remark, and instead say, "You're not gonna buy anything yet, aren't you?"

 

If there's anything that Wonpil always say to me whenever he plays cupid, it's that Younghyun and I have a lot in common. And Japan's anime and manga industry are overlapping elements of our venn diagram.

And so I bring him to the largest Animate store in Tokyo, which sits right across Sunshine Tower. Once we entered the building, Younghyun was in a euphoric fanboy state.

“Jaehee-yah!!! How did you know that I liked anime?” His eyes were glinting with such boyish charms.

"Younghyun-ssi," I start, but he interrupts me.

“Please call me Younghyun?”

I look straight into his eyes, and, not wanting to break the mood, I finally manage to call him as he wanted. “Okay, uhm, Younghyun." I smile a bit wider, and proceeded to explain how his brother was the one who casually leaks the information. 

Exploring the store, Younghyun talks about anime and manga and animated films and light novels. It was fascinating to converse about fan theories and opinions on the latest chapters and episodes. Kang Younghyun is not only physically attractive, he is also a smart man. God knows how much I'm a sucker for those types.

An hour later, I am browsing my phone while waiting for him by the entrance, as he finished paying for the anime goods he bought. I see him in my peripheral and I look up at him. He was fidgeting, and suddenly stares at me and says, “Hey Jaehee-yah, you're just finalizing your moving out errands, right? Do you have time to accompany me on some of the itineraries you mentioned earlier?”

I'm pretty sure the surprise is apparent on my face, and thus I was thankful for whoever called at that exact moment. It was Jae, and he wanted to confirm if I am to have dinner with them. I invite Younghyun as well, it'll be nice for him to meet other Koreans since he's staying for a month. I end the call.

 

I turn to face Younghyun, took a deep breath, and answered his prior question. "Yeah, sure, I'll tour you around.”


	2. Warning

**2\. Warning**  
_Gotta go over the line_  
_Tonight, tonight_

**Park Jaehyung**

"Sungjin, you don't mind me inviting the other Jae to our family dinner, right?" Our little group of three is in the neighborhood supermarket, picking up groceries for the week. 

"Stop saying we're a family. And yes, Jaehee is always welcome to our home." Not that an approval from Sungjin is required, but I respect him enough to ask.

"Also Hyung, yes, you have my support on this." Dowoon, the maknae, is often quiet and very observant, and he is definitely implying something with that statement.

"Dowoon-ah, may I please ask whatever do you mean?"

Sungjin just snickers and walks away, probably to get some vegetables only he has the aptitude to distinguish between fresh and rubbish.

Dowoon, the tall kid he is, gets chips from the top of the shelf, and looks at me, "I mean, I support you on this." He gestures to the grocery cart, "this another attempt to impress your dear Jaehee and hint at you liking her." He then pushes the cart away, leaving me standing there. Almost half a year of living with this kid and yet I still get surprised when he opens his braced mouth.

Sungjin is back beside me, and wonders where Dowoon and the shopping cart is. I shrug, in response. Remembering that Jaehee technically has not said yes to the dinner invite yet, I call her. Sungjin watches me in silence as he pretends to peruse the line of nissin cup noodles on display.

"Hey Jae." _It's practically a term of endearment, when will she ever notice?_ I ask her about gracing us with her presence tonight, and she took a few seconds to respond.

"Yeah, count me in." I release the breath I didn't notice I was holding. "And I'm bringing a friend with me, is that okay?"

I wanted to ask who this friend is, but I guess I'll have to wait. "Yeah, sure, you can bring a friend with you."

From my periphery, Sungjin says out loud, "I guess I'm cooking for five, then."

 

I let Sungjin and Dowoon do their thing in the kitchen, and I text Jaehee to pass the time but mainly to anticipate what time they'll be arriving.

"Sungjin hyung, why is is that we are cooking for Jaehyung-hyung's crush?" Dowoon says this so loudly, he totally meant for me to hear it.

"Dowoon-ah, we're cooking our dinner, it just so happened that Jaehee and her friend is also coming. Pass me the onions. Also I thought you're supporting this?"

"I do support this, but I just thought that as this family's eldest hyung, he could at least help." The both of them are pointedly looking at me now.

I sat up from the sofa, place one hand on my hips and curtsied. "I thank you both for your service. I will wash everything later as contribution to this dinner." With that, I turn around and walk towards the balcony that over-looked street below. This is _definitely_ not what I usually do when I know that Jaehee is on her way home.

Finally, I see a figure turn on to our street. It's Jaehee and her friend, a handsome guy about my age who is looking at her too fondly to be a platonic friend.

 _Oh, come on!_ I run down as fast as I can.

  

 **Kang Younghyun**  

The commute from Ikebukuro was spent scheduling my itinerary, figuring out the days that Jaehee will be able to tour me around and days that I'll have to explore on his own. On the train, she was scribbling these details on her notebook. I couldn't help but study her, she looks pretty even with her brows furrowed in concentration.

From the station, we walk several blocks to her apartment. I let her talk, it was both amusing and mesmerizing to see her excited about our trips. I don't think it sunk into her yet, that she basically scheduled dates when she agreed to tour me around. For now, she's excited to plan the whole thing. I guess it's up to me to up the ante and turn the trip into a romantic one, then.

We turn a street and suddenly, a tall, blonde guy runs out of a gate, sees us, and stops to huff in the middle of the street. Jaehee sees him too and jogs toward him.

"Park Jaehyung, what the hell? Have you been running or something? Are you okay?" She pats his back several times and laughs at something he said. I walk to where they are.

"You ran down so you could fetch me? From where exactly, the street to the hundred steps it would take me to enter our gate?" She's laughing so hard right now, I can't imagine what's so funny.

The Jaehyung person regains his breath and stands, greeting her, "Hey Jae." He offers his hand to carry her Animate loot bags, to which she refuses. Then he grins. "Or you could say that I'm being very sweet and say thank you?"

"Yeah, right. You probably just wanted me to come over faster so we can eat dinner." Jaehyung pouts at her comment, and she laughs again.

She turns to me and gestures that I come closer. "Younghyun, this is Park Jaehyung. He's a neighbor and a hoobae from the university."

So this is the Jae that Piri has been babbling about. Ever since Jaehee left for Japan, Wonpil always voluntarily gave updates on her. And for the past few months, this guy's name came up so many times, I even wondered if they were dating. Wonpil confirmed that they aren't dating… _yet._

"Nice to meet you," I say and shake his hand.

"Jae, this is Kang Younghyun. Remember Wonpil? This is his older brother. The friend I told you I was bringing to dinner."

 

  **Park Sungjin**

"So that's noona's friend, huh?" Dowoon and I are standing by the balcony where Jae was a few minutes ago. He suddenly ran out of the apartment, and so our interests were piqued.

"Yeah, looks like it." Jae is now huffing in the middle of the street, a few paces from the apartment gates.

Dowoon is now laughing beside me. "Can't Jaehyung-hyung be any more obvious? Are we sure Jaehee noona doesn't know?"

"Well, Jaehee is laughing at Jae right now, so yeah I'm sure she's oblivious." Jaehee's friend walks closer to the two Jaes, silently observing.

"Hyung, should I put a popcorn in the microwave? Looks like it's going to be an interesting dinner." Dowoon is clearly having too much fun.

"Go set the table, Dowoon-ah. And try not to be too hard on Jae, okay?" The two men are now shaking hands, and I can feel the tension from way up here. I'll have to agree with Dowoon though, it's going to be a fun night.

 

"Waaah, that smells good! You already set the table? You should've let us help." Jaehee is bright as per usual, walking directly to the dinner table after entering the apartment. Jae and her 'friend' is next through the door, their eyes trained on one particular person in the room.

"Jae ran out when he saw you from the balcony, so I assumed he was so hungry, he fetched you himself." I realize that I may not be suitable for this wingman thing.

Jaehee laughs, "I told him the same thing, Sungjin-ah. I can't believe he ran those flights of stairs! He was out of breath when we saw him, it was hilarious!"

Jae is now standing between us. "Jaehee-ssi. I told you I was being romantic. I made an effort!"

They're smiling at each other now. They look so good together, it's hard not to root for them. "Oh, fine. Thank you, Jae." She curtsies a little. "There, satisfied?"

Jae looks away for a second and scratches his head as if in embarrassment, and then looks back at her with a grin.

From across the room, someone cleared his throat, dissipating whatever little spark there was.

Jaehee is a bit startled and breaks eye contact with Jae, and quickly paces back to Younghyun's spot by the door. "Sorry, I got distracted by the food. OSo everyone, this is Kang Younghyun, Wonpil's older brother. Younghyun, this is Sungjin and Dowoon, and Jae, you met him downstairs." 

We exchange greetings, and after an awkward pause, Jaehee tries to rescue the atmosphere. "So, uhm. Younghyun-ssi," they look at each other briefly before she continued, "I mean -- Younghyun. Sorry I still need to  get used to that. Anyway. Sungjin here is 11 months older than you. Jae is a '92, the eldest of the bunch. And Dowoon is the maknae, he's younger than Piri." She claps her hands together and announces, looking at each of us, "Now that's clear, can we eat? I'm starving!" Younghyun just smiles at her fondly, and follows her to the dining table.

 

I seat at the table's helm with Jae to my right and Jaehee to my left. Younghyun sits beside Jaehee, and Dowoon takes the seat beside Jae. Seems like I have a front row seat, huh?

Jaehee scans the table for the side dishes she actually eats. We also made it a point to prepare vegetables she likes, and she seems visibly satisfied at the food selection. "Sungjin-ah, Dowoon-ah, thank you for letting me and Younghyun join you for dinner."

Dowoon and I just smile and nod, and gesture for everyone to start eating. And we all do. We also learn about Younghyun's one month vacation, and Jaehee shares about the struggles on wrapping up her life in Japan.

Jaehee stands up from her seat. Looks like her friend wants a second helping of rice.

Jae turns to her, and comments, "Hey Jae, why am I, your favorite hoobae, is not included in the thank you speech you gave earlier?" Jaehyung is doing that pout aegyo again. I look away from him and scoop some kimchi instead.

Jaehee rolls her eyes and goes back to her seat. She puts the bowl of rice in front of Younghyun, and he thanks her. She then looks at Jae. "First of all, Jae, I'm pretty sure that only these two gentlemen here cooked and you are in charge of the post-meal clean-up. As per usual."

Jae holds up his hands as if in surrender. "Guilty as charged, m'lady. And your second point?"

"Second of all," she pauses and slurps the kimchi jiggae soup, probably for effect, "you are not my favorite hoobae. Dowoon here is." She grins at Dowoon and puts an anchovy side dish to his rice bowl. He slightly blushes, muttering a "thank you noona."

Jae scoffs and then smirks. "We both know that's not true."

Jaehee rolls her eyes, again. She does this a lot towards Jae when they bicker. "I am not entirely sure why you sound so sure, Jaehyung-ssi."

"So your favorite oppa, then?" Jae winks at her, and I almost choke on the rice I was chewing.

Jaehee ponders this, and stifles a smile. "Hmm. Jaehyung-oppa. That sounds weird, though. And you grew up in America anyway, when have you been a stickler for formalities?"

At the word, oppa, Jae starts blinking too many times in a span of 5 seconds, his chopsticks frozen in the middle of picking up a piece of stir fried pork.

"Noona, I think you broke hyung." I wordlessly reprimand Dowoon with my eyes, and he just shrugs.

Jae regains his sanity, and begins eating the rest of his rice from the bowl. Meanwhile, Jaehee is just laughing out loud. Jae finishes his bowl, downs half a glass of water, and looks straight at her. "You're gonna kill me, woman."

I often wonder if Jaehee is dense or she just refuses to assume how much Jae likes her. But to Jae's discredit, I can't understand why he hasn't confessed to her yet.

Jaehee resumes dinner and  being the messy eater that she is, she has a number of rice grains on both sides of her mouth. I was about to point it out to her but Younghyun beats me to it. Jaehee misses the other side, which Younghyun takes them off himself. This time it's Jaehee who blinks too many times while staring at Younghyun, who just smiles at her and tells her to resume eating. I catch her smile a little as she mutters thanks to him.

Jae elbows me, catching my attention. I just shrug at him. He then looks at Dowoon, and the maknae does the same. This Younghyun guy is definitely trouble.

"So, Jae, guess what's for dessert?" Park Jaehyung is not backing down, huh. 

Jaehee's face lights up at this, "There's dessert??" 

Jae's got her attention now, so he stands up and opens the fridge, bringing a tub of cookie dough ice cream to the table. "Your favorite ice cream, of course!"

They're both beaming, Jae in triumph and Jaehee in sweet tooth bliss. He scoops her a glass full, and hands it to her. 

"Thank you so much, Jae!!! I change my mind, you're my favorite hoobae now!" 

Jae serves himself as well, and the rest of the table. "Sorry you got demoted, Dowoon-ah."

"Hyung, you don't look sorry at all."

Jae chooses to ignore this. Seeing that Jaehee already finished her glass, he refills it. "Jaehee, I have a proposition though. You have to say yes before I give this glass to you."

Jaehee raises her eyebrow at this. "I have to hear it first, young man."

"Promote me as your favorite person instead?" I'm not sure if you can choke on ice cream, but I nearly do, again.

Jaehee takes the glass from him, and there's a brief, silent anticipation in the air. "Sorry Jae, it's gonna take more than ice cream to do that."

 

After dinner, Dowoon cleared the table while the two Jaes begin with washing the dinner utensils. I direct Younghyun to the living room and insist that guests are not allowed to help with the chores.

I learn that he's on a paid, forced sabbatical leave (the lucky bastard), and that he knew Jaehee since high school but only got to be actual friends with her since a few years ago. We also talk about music, Korea, and Japan. It wasn't hard talking to the man, he's eloquent and has interesting insights. As Jaehee's honorary older brother in Japan (Jae absolutely doesn't count), I felt that I need to subtly scrutinize this guy. And so far, he's a good candidate. He seems like a good guy. And he definitely likes Jaehee, seeing how much he has glanced to where Jae and Jaehee are.

 

**Park Jaehyung**

Jaehee and I are by the sink, washing the dishes.

"Come on, Lee Jaehee, quit it with the oppa thing already. It's making me cringe." _Or rather, my heart can't handle that so please stop it._

"Woah, you called me by my whole name." She thinks this is funny. "Alright, fine. Just Jae."

"Thank you. Finally." I change topic and try to prod a bit about the visitor. "So, Kang Younghyun. Just a friend?"

Jaehee seems to focus on the plate she's drying. "Yeah, Younghyun is a friend. He's Wonpil's elder half-brother. Long story, but yeah that's it." 

"Oh okay." She does not answer the most important part of that query, but I decide to let it go. This is definitely not the time to be talking about the new guy.

 

We were quiet for a while, and I hum a One OK Rock song. She then muses, "I'm gonna miss this, and you guys. I don't think I'm prepared to go back to being a real adult in Korea." 

"You're gonna be fine, Jaehee. And you can always call on me. Besides, the three of us are gonna be back in Korea in a year and a half. We'll see each other again then."

"Thank you for everything, Jae, I mean it."

"We're just washing dishes, and you still have two months left. That's a lot of time, don't say goodbye yet, please?" I look at her this time, and she returns my gaze with a sad smile.

We finish washing the dishes, and start cleaning up the rest of the kitchen.

"I have an idea. Do you have time for another trip before you leave for good?" I need Jaehee to say yes to this.

"Will Dowoon and Sungjin be free for the rest of the semester?" Jaehee is now leaning on the kitchen counter.

I stand beside her again. "Hmm. We can schedule for the four of us, but I meant," I turn to Jaehee and wait for her to look at me, “go somewhere with just me?”


	3. You

**3\. You**

_Our awkward relationship is frustrating_  
_Feels closer although it’s far away_  
_It’s you_

**Lee Jaehee**

"But I meant, go somewhere with just me?" An alarm goes off somewhere in my head, and I stop myself from making assumptions. Jae is a university hoobae, a neighbor, a friend. He is a tall, lanky, attractive smartass who I might have a small crush on, but he is a friend.

(To be fair, I always have a small crush on anyone who is my age, smiles like an angel, and is intelligent. And then an inner voice whispers, arguing that it doesn't see me crushing on Sungjin and Dowoon though.) 

I can feel Jae staring at me, waiting for a response. He suddenly looks amused and lightly jabs a finger between my apparently furrowed brows. I look up at him. Jae then puts his hands in his pockets, saying, "I'll plan everything, Jaehee-yah, all you need to do is be there. Please say yes?"

I look up at him again, and I smirk at this proposal. I _always_ plan our trips. “It’s a deal, Jae. But we have to schedule this, okay? I kind of promised my visitor over there,” I nod in the direction of the living room, “that I will tour him around Tokyo.”

Jae is doing his should-be-patented pretty smile that extends to his eyes. "No backsies!” He suddenly lifts my hands and makes me do a pinky promise. We’re both smiling at this idiotic gesture. I tug my hands away and he refuses to let go for a few more seconds, making me raise an eyebrow. He widens his grin and finally drops my hand.

“Anyway, I'll let you figure it out, Jaehee-yah. You're the only person I know who would schedule her months in neat writing, in sometimes excruciating detail. I honestly admire that side of you though." Jae’s little commentaries like these always make me a bit flustered. I hope he doesn’t notice and quietly thank him for the compliment.

Jae pushes himself away from the sink, and stands in front of me, bending a little to level his face to mine. "And by the way, just give me a heads up and we can be both tour guides to Younghyun." He winks, turns around and walks towards the living room. I wish he'd stop doing that random winking. I can't decide if I'm cringing or there's an effect I refuse to recognize.

I follow Jae to the living room and catch Youngyun's gaze. He knocks his head slightly in the door's direction. I take this as a cue to go. "Sungjin, Jae, Dowoon, thank you again for letting me and Younghyun intrude. We'll go now so you can rest. Younghyun also needs to catch the train back to Ikebukuro."

Younghyun stands up and bows his head briefly. "Thank you for the food and the hospitality. You are great cooks, Sungjin-ssi and Dowoon-ssi. It was nice meeting you as well, Jaehyung-ssi."

“You’re cool, Younghyun-hyung, let’s hang out some time while you’re here.” It was Dowoon. Looks like Younghyun’s charms also worked with the maknae, in the few minutes I was doing the dishes.

“Sure, Dowoon.” They exchange kakao talk IDs. “We’ll go ahead now. Thank you again.”

 

We stand just outside the apartment gates, currently on a stalemate that would leave Wonpil frustrated if he was here. Younghyun refuses to let me accompany him to the train station.

Being the hard-headed person I am, I do not back down. "Younghyun-ah, it is just 8 o'clock and this is a safe neighborhood."

"Jaehee-yah. It's already 9pm and I can take care of myself. Google maps and Japan's fast internet speed is enough to take me home."

“Younghyun-ah, it’s just 8:40pm, we’re adults in our twenties, and _I_ can take care of myself, as I have been doing these past two years.”

“Jaehee-yah. As your best friend’s older brother,” he pauses a bit, smirks for a nanosecond _(did he really think I wouldn’t see it?)_ , “as your _oppa._ I cannot allow you to walk that far just to send home a grown ass man.” I cringe at his emphasis on that certain word. “I originally came here on my own anyway. So no need to make a fuss, Jaehee. I also just want you to be safe. Wonpil will kill me if he learns that I let you walk me that far." Younghyun’s facial expressions transitions from lined with worry to looking too smug for someone trying to be convincing. "Not that he would succeed in murdering me, but you get my point.”

I audibly sigh. This isn’t an argument I’m gonna win, and it’s not as if he’s being completely unreasonable. But I want to save a bit of my pride. "Okay, a compromise. I'll walk you until the convenience store, a block away. Let me do this, please? You're my visitor."

Younghyun considers this, swaps his smug grin with a soft smile, and finally nods. "Alright. Let's go."

 

It was a bright night, the full moon illuminating the streets, and Younghyun’s godly features. We’re walking beside each other, and every now and then he adjusts his pace to match mine. He’s looking straight ahead, and the streetlights cause shadows to dance across his face.

"Am I that handsome for you to stare at so intently, Jaehee-yah?" When he looks at me, I have already looked away. After a heartbeat, I decide to meet his stare and roll my eyes, half pretending that I didn't get caught ogling him. I change the topic. "Have you seen 'Durarara!!'?" He nods.

"It's set in Ikebukuro. Why not explore the area and do a some sort of pilgrimage?" I continue, glancing at his expression every so often. 

“That’s actually not a bad idea. And I won’t be required to wake up early for this particular itinerary. Is this our day 1?” For a second there, I thought I heard him ask if it was our first day, implying: as a couple. 

"Uhm, not yet, hot shot. I can't tour you tomorrow. I got some university errands to do. And I really need to have progress with my packing, since I'm sending some boxes home, ahead of me. You’ll be fine on your own?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll probably sleep until late morning, but yeah I'll keep your suggestion in mind. It would be nice to do the Durarara!! pilgrimage with you, though.” Our eyes meet briefly before I break the contact. “Please make sure to wake up before 10 AM so you don’t miss breakfast, okay?” Earlier, he had briefly mentioned the schedule of the complimentary breakfast at his lodging.

Younghyun seems amused, and I am suddenly conscious that I am nagging. “Sorry if that sounded weird. I was used to berating Wonpil with even the smallest things. You know how he keeps on forgetting stuff, I sometimes wonder if it’s on purpose.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I appreciate your concern too. And you were being adorable so I’ll give you a pass.” Younghyun gives me a side glance, and smirks again for the umpteenth time today. His effect on me must have been written all over my face.

I clear my throat, and once again ignore the commentary and switch topic. “Regarding the Ikebukuro anime pilgrimage, I did it with Dowoon before, he’s also a fan. Jae tagged along as well, though I don’t think he’s seen the series. So maybe you can ask either of the two to accompany you tomorrow? Jae said they’re free for the rest of the week.”

I see him scrunch his nose at this, for some reason he looked annoyed for two seconds. The expression disappears, and he finally says, “I see. I’ll text Dowoon, then.” 

 

We walk in comfortable silence until we arrive at the convenience store, and he turns to me. “Thank you for today, Jaehee-yah." I can feel his gaze on me, and when I finally return it, his eyes smiles along with the his bright face. "It was really nice meeting you again.” I turn to the front again, and there is what feels like a non-awkward pause, one where it feels like too many words are not being said and yet a message is somehow delivered. "You have my kakao talk id, right? I’ll message you." I look back at him and he smiles, and then we part ways.

I stare at his wide back for a few seconds when he turns around again. He waves his hand and gestures me to go, and then disappear around the corner.

“Hey Jae!” A male voice shouts from behind me. I am startled out of my wits and turn around, clutching at my chest. “Oh my fucking – You scared me, Park Jaehyung!” He’s laughs out loud for a few seconds, looks at me and is suddenly apologetic. I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so spooked.

“I’m sorry, Jaehee. You’ve been standing there for like, a full minute, I thought it was already okay to call on you.” He shifts his weight on his feet a couple of times and says, “Let’s go home?”

 

We are now at my apartment door, and Jae hands me the Animate shopping bags I left at their place earlier. “Good thing you left these, huh? I found an excuse to walk you back home.”

Before I could respond, my phone pings. I glance at it quickly and I look back at Jae. I meet his eyes. “Was that Younghyun?”  
“Yeah, he was asking if I got home safe.”

“Oh.” He pauses. “Any plans for tomorrow?”  
“I have to attend this talk at the university tomorrow. My scholarship sort of requires me to be there.”

“Ah, at the rector’s request, no?” I nod at his question. “I’ll go in now, Jae. Thank you so much for tonight. For dinner, the ice cream, and for walking me home."

He waves his hand dismissively. “No problemo, Jae. Anything for you, always.”

I spend a solid half hour in the shower, contemplating the day’s events. When I said last two peaceful months in Japan, I did not mean adding excursions to my already long list of exit preparations for my grad school life. My decisions today all seem contrary to that though.

First, agreeing to going around Tokyo with Kang Younghyun. He’s Wonpil’s brother, so I can’t possibly say no. There was no way around that. Or maybe there is, but what harm could happen with spending a lot of time with an innocent crush, right? Second, there was Jae. After dinner, he asked me to go on a day tour with just the two of us. A day on my final 8 weeks is hardly a dent, and so I agree to that as well.

I have a feeling that there's something beyond my control here. I decide to Skype Piri for help.

 

**Kim Wonpil**

It was a productive day. Meetings were held, deadlines were beaten, and Jaehee and Younghyun finally went on a date. It’s already 5pm. I stretch out my arms, and grin satisfactorily. _Good job, Kim Wonpil_.

A brief backgrounder on how I ended up being the captain of the YoungHee ship:

Lee Jaehee and I have been friends since high school, and we became closer during college. Kang Younghyun and I have different fathers but we’ve lived together since we were kids, so we’re basically brothers.

What Jaehee and Younghyun have in common: being unceremoniously dumped by their highschool sweethearts at around the same time four years ago. After being in their respective seven year relationships, they both emerged as individuals who decided to focus on their selves and their careers. They have not seriously dated anyone else since then.

While this is not too much of a concern, it was one day three years ago that would launch the operation get-the-two-best-people-in-my-life-together.

“Wonpil-ah, I think I have a crush on Younghyun.” It was one day during the lent season holiday and Jaehee visited my home. I grinned at her, and I can see in her face that she’s already regretting telling me this. “Oh my goodness Kim Wonpil. Please don’t make me regret telling you this.”

For the next few months, I would mention Jaehee more to my brother, more often than before. The fact that they have similar hobbies, that they like the same things. I’d always let Jaehee know when Younghyun’s home. I’d always let Younghyun know in advance whenever Jaehee is visiting, and he was always the one to greet her at the door. I would urge Jaehee to text Younghyun during special occasions, and I would see him smile when he receives it (I would always later confirm with Jaehee if and when she sent him a message). However, things never really took off for them, and by the time that hyung was sure of his feelings, Jaehee was on the plane to Japan.

Later that night, I receive a text from Jaehee.

jaeheelee: Piri, are you home yet? Can we videochat?  
onefeel: Let me set-up my laptop, give me a few minutes.

I prop open my laptop and it rings as soon as log-in to Skype. In old Jaehee fashion, she enumerates her day’s events. By the time she was finished, all I could say was, “So you’re going on several dates with hyung and one with Jae?”

Her eyes widen at the realization. This makes me laugh. Lee Jaehee is such an illiterate when it comes to dating. Or her guard is up so high, she refuses to see the obvious signs.

“Kim Wonpil –  
“Did I really –  
“With Younghyun –  
“And Jae too?!  
“Oh my god – "

She paces away from the laptop screen, walks toward her bed and she screams into her pillow. After a few seconds, she emerges and is back in front of the camera. She’s somehow composed herself now. “I’m stupid, aren’t I?”

“Well, to be fair, they’re also both your friends, right?” I refuse to spoon-feed her with this dilemma. She needs to be honest with her feelings and figure this out on her own.

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just a platonic day out with a friend. I’m a tour guide to the brother of my best friend. And I’ve been to trips with Jae before. This is totally normal. Right, Wonpil-ah?” She looks so desperate, I can only nod my head as sagely as I could.

My phone rings, and it’s Younghyun-hyung. “Jaehee-yah, my brother’s calling me. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” She shakes her head, and we end the videocall.

I take hyung’s call next.


	4. Headache

  **4\. Headache**  
_Oh please_  
_Please look at me_  
_I'm right in front of you_

 **Kim Wonpil**  
The hardest thing with acting as a bridge for Jaehee and Younghyun are their baggages and the corresponding defense mechanism they have built. Just when I think that they’re making progress and are about to break through the tough shells they’ve surrounded themselves with, they get promoted, or leave their jobs for a better one, or fly to another country and stay there for two years. Jaehee and Younghyun flourished in their respective careers, genuinely enjoyed singlehood, and consciously made it a point not to listen to me whenever I ship them out loud, to their faces. They have a mutual crush on each other, for love’s sake!

During the past two years, it became more difficult, given that they both don’t see each other anymore. And that’s a challenge that I took. I fed Younghyun with all updates on Jaehee, and vice versa. When I Skype with Jaehee, it’s usually in the living room, where Younghyun can naturally eavesdrop and sometimes drop by to wave a hello at her.

One can imagine how frustrating that it has been three years and yet nothing significant has occurred between them. But I realized that all my work has paid off one night half a year ago.

“Hyung, Jaehee’s new neighbors seem nice.” I handed him my phone and showed the photo that Jaehee sent, a group selca in which a certain tall, bespectacled guy has a casual hand hanging over Jaehee’s shoulder. I deliberately pointed at this, watched his expression, and continued, “This is Jae. Looks like they’re getting along very nicely, huh.”

Younghyun stared at the image on my phone for a few seconds. He gave me back my phone and scrunched his nose. “Yeah, looks like they do. Are they dating or something?”

I grinned widely at him, and which made him throw a cushion at me. “They’re not dating, hyung. At least not _yet._ ” I gave as much emphasis as I can to the last word.

Later than night, Younghyun bursted through my bedroom door and announced, “I’m going to take a sabbatical leave, in Japan probably.” I don’t even bother to stop myself from giggling. “Okay, thank you for letting me know, hyung.” And then he left as abruptly as he came.

 

Months later, he’s on a plane to Tokyo. I told him one thing before checking-in: “Go get her, hyung.” He smiled, swung his backpack onto his right arm. “I’ll try, Wonpil-ah.”

However, on his first day in Tokyo, all he did was sleep. Abashed, I concocted the blind date plan, and hope that the magic of a foreign city dissipates their inhibitions. And as they say, the rest was history (though technically it’s been only a day).

 

I finish the call with Jaehee and answer my phone to take Younghyun’s video call. He has his phone propped in front of him, eating what looks like Korean instant ramen. I can’t believe he packed those when Japan is _the_ land of ramen.

“Younghyunie-hyuuuung, what’s up yo! How's Japan?” I let my eyebrows dance and smile from ear-to-ear.

He smirks and puts down his chopsticks. “Oh, you know, I went to the Pokemon Center as per your bidding. But guess who I bumped into?”

His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but I remain grinning wildly. “Who might it be???”

He rolls his eyes. “I bumped into a certain Lee Jaehee, my dear dongsaeng. What a coincidence, isn’t it?”

It’s my turn to be annoying. “Yeah, I wonder who’s the cupid that set this up?”

He laughs, incredulous at my confidence. “Did you just praise yourself?”

“You're welcome, my dear hyung.” I shoot him finger hearts and he makes a face. I decide to prod him a bit more. “And I heard you also met Jae?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Were you talking to Jaehee before I called?”

“Yeah, just the usual catching up session. So anyway, I also heard that Jae asked Jaehee on a date.” I pause dramatically, and let that sink in.

He finishes the soup he was slurping, looks up, and finally says, “So… Did Jaehee say it was a date?”

“Well…I did try to make her realize that it _probably_ means more than she thinks she does.  But she’s a smart girl, she realized it on her own when the words came out of her own mouth.” I laugh a bit, remembering seeing her thought process reflected on her face which eventually led to the pillow scream. “But then again, she’s a dating illiterate. So much so that by the end of the call, she has convinced herself that she’s just a tour guide to you, and a friend to Jae.”

There was a brief silence, in which I watch him lift and put down his spoon, contemplating on what to do with the information he was given.

“And you did not argue against her conclusion?”

“Hyung, I think I’ve done enough for you two. It’s up to you to break down her walls. Or Jae, whoever does it first.”

 

**Yoon Dowoon**

It’s 4 in the afternoon and I’m sitting outside one of the university’s auditorium, with Kang Younghyun. He asked me to accompany him on a Durarara!! tour in Ikebukuro, as suggested by Jaehee noona. Afterwards, hyung asked about Jaehee noona’s errand in the university. And thus here we are, waiting for her. Younghyun-hyung is beside me, his eyes focused on the auditorium doors. The silence seems to not bother either of us, but nevertheless I ask out of sheer curiousity, “Hyung, are you noona’s boyfriend?”

His eyes widen, and turns to face me, and smiles bitterly. “Unfortunately, no, Dowoon-ah.”

Amused at his honest answer, I question further. “Not an ex, either?”

He smirks, as if due to a bad memory. “Her ex was an asshole, and that wasn’t me.”

“But you’re close with her?” As much as I’d like to say that I’m doing this to know the enemy, I would like to clarify that this is just me and my insatiable curiosity in the face of an honest man.

“I wouldn’t say close, but that’s what I aim for us to be, at the very least. You have a lot questions, huh? Do you like Jaehee?”

A bit flustered at the sudden question, I cough a bit. I regain my composure and look back at Younghyun, who was smiling as if in triumph (at what, exactly? I’m not sure either.) “I like noona, but not the same way you hyungs do. I’m not particularly interested in a fierce competition.”

 

A stream of people gush out of the building, and I see noona with someone familiar. I wonder out loud, “Is that Junmyeon sunbae?”

“Who?” Younghyun seems to have found Jaehee in the crowd, and sees what I was referring to.

“That handsome Korean guy beside noona, he’s a sunbae from Seoul National University. Looks like he and Jaehee noona know each other? Small world, I guess.” I shrug, and take a look at Younghyun. He got an eyebrow raised, with a stoic, intense expression that I can only interpret as ‘why is there another male character here???’ Another interesting day, huh.

He meets my observational stare and smirks. “You’re grinning, Dowoon-ah.”

“Hyung, we’ve only met yesterday and I like you already.” He scoffs, amused. He then stands and walks toward them, and I follow suit.

Jaehee sees us, quite surprised at our appearance.

Junmyeon sunbae sees me, and looks at Jaehee, then back to me. “Jaehee and Dowoon, you both know each other?”

I nod. “Hello Junmyeon sunbae, what brings you here?”

“Fancy meeting you here, Dowoon-ah! I was a resource person for a training in the area. I knew Jaehee was studying here so I attended this lecture with her. How do you know Jaehee?”

“She’s my sunbae in graduate school. How do you know noona, hyung?”

“We’ve worked together several times before, for her previous organization.”

Jaehee finally decides to jump in the conversation. “So yeah, that’s how we knew each other. Also, this is Kang Younghyun, Wonpil’s brother.” They shake hands briefly. “Younghyun, this is Kim Junmyeon.”

 

We walk in the direction of the exit, with Younghyun and I behind Jaehee noona and Junmyeon sunbae.

“Hyung, do we have any other plans? Looks like noona’s taken for tonight.”

“I actually asked her out to dinner already, but she hasn’t replied to my text yet.” He unlocks his phone and checks. “Yep, no response. Probably was busy with the lecture and-or that guy.”

I close the distance between our pairs, just so I could eavesdrop on them. Younghyun was the one to follow suit this time.

“Junmyeon-ssi, are you not gonna get married to her yet?” 

“Jaehee-yah, I broke up with her three months ago.”

“Oh. I’m sorry I brought it up, I didn’t know.” Jaehee looks up to sunbae’s face, and they hold eye contact for so long, I feared that they might trip. Noona was the one who breaks it.

“It’s fine, I didn’t exactly make an announcement about it.” He turns to her again. “Are you dating anyone, Jaehee-yah?”

This makes her meets his eyes. I dare take a look at Younghyun, and he has an eyebrow raised and a cold stare directed at Junmyeon.

Jaehee adjusts her bag strap and turns her head towards Junmyeon again. I also see her briefly side-glance in our direction before . “Not at the moment, not really. But just so we’re clear, I don’t have plans being your rebound girlfriend, if that’s what you’re about to ask next.”

Junmyeon laughs, and I see Younghyun proudly smirk.

“Quite frank and straight to the point, as always. I really like that about you.” He’s been rejected and yet they’re smiling at each other. _What is happening? My mind can’t process this._

“Why, thank you.”

“I’ll try asking again in a few months, when you’re back in Korea.” Beside me, Younghyun audibly scoffs. Jaehee shrugs and says, “Focus on getting her back or moving on first, Junmyeon. I don’t plan on treating your wounds for you, or for anyone.”

At the bus stop, Junmyeon asks Jaehee if she’s available for dinner. She side-glances in our direction, a little longer this time, and says, “I have prior plans with these gentlemen over here, I’m sorry. Do send my regards to Dr. Lee and Dr. Nam, though.”

“See you back in Korea.” He pats her head, and even though she preemptedly rejected him, she’s smiling like a smitten girl.

He boards the bus, and she waves at him. She then turns to us.“So you did the Ikebukuro tour today?”

Younghyun-hyung is staring at her too intensely, and she blinks before turning to me. I answer on our behalf. “The Ikebukuro tour you mentioned noona, I walked him through it. Jaehee noona, I like Younghyun-hyung, he’s fun. And he treated me to lunch.” Jaehee noona laughs, breaking the proverbial ice. “You’re too easy to please, Dowoon-ah.”

Younghyun finally speaks. He’s smiling too. “Or I’m just a very likeable person, Jaehee-yah.” She rolls her eyes and scoffs. “So what’s for dinner?”

I feel like this is my cue to go. “Actually noona, I’m supposed to cook again tonight. Jaehyung-hyung will starve if I don’t, and I think he hasn’t left the apartment all day. For all we know, he’s already dead.”

She laughs again. It’s always very easy to make her laugh. “I know you’re exaggerating, but I can already imagine Jae by the balcony, waiting for your chivalrous return.” I bid them goodbye as a bus arrives, and I board it.

 

Upon arriving at the apartment, Jae-hyung turns to me and asks, “You have any idea where Jaehee is?” I reply, mustering the straightest face I could make. “Hyung, I left Jaehee noona to have dinner with Younghyun-hyung, so I can cook you one.”

“YoU WHAT?!”

I grin in response. Jae’s incredulous facial expression was totally worth it.


	5. So Cool

**5\. So Cool**  
_I will make you just love me_  
_You may not be able to close your pretty lips_

**Kang Younghyun**

On my third day in Japan, I decided to try and rope Yoon Dowoon into the anime tour Jaehee mentioned last night. The kid agrees and is in general was a perfect tour guide, mainly because he knows his anime stuff. He was also amusing and easy to be friends with. After lunch, I ask him about Jaehee's university errands today.  
"Jae-hyung mentioned that noona has a lecture to attend in the university until 4 in the afternoon." As if reading my mind, he offers to bring me there after another visit to Animate.

And here we are, but with another guy in tow. Junmyeon, he's called. Jaehee's work colleague who I probably heard from Wonpil but never really cared to remember. I suddenly realize that Lee Jaehee, a woman of confidence, intelligence, and beauty, is single by choice. That, not unlike me, she enjoyed being on her own and did not require romantic ties to be called conventionally happy. That I've somehow taken for granted the fact that she's always been single, so I didn't imagine any rivals such as Park Jaehyung or this guy.

Park Jaehyung who has a six months advantage over myself. And this sunbae who is just blatantly flirting with Jaehee. Just when I finally decided to make a move, I realize that I might be a tad too late. But I got a month, and I don't plan to just standby. Up the ante and hope we can make the transition to being friends, then cross the line when the timing’s right.

We finally arrive at the bus stop, and Jaehee and this Junmyeon has an annoying spark going on between them. He decides to leave, and she stays for dinner with me since Yoon Dowoon was smart enough to understand the imaginary daggers I was shooting at him. I thank the kid and watch him take the bus, finally leaving me alone with her.  
  
In the silence that followed, she watches Dowoon's bus go while I allow myself to look at her face. Her hair's up in a ponytail today, and I spot the mole above her left eye, which probably often goes unnoticed because of her glasses. She looks up at me and I try to maintain the eye contact. She's the one who looks away, as she often does. Finally I break the silence. "So Jaehee-yah, where to?"  
  
As if refusing to meet my eyes, she observes the passing cars and pedetrians. "It's just almost 5pm, but do you have any particular dinner place in mind?  
  
"How about those ramen restaurants that people fall in line for?"  
  
She considers this. "Well, by the time we're in, we'll be properly hungry already. So, sure, I know a place."  
  
"I love that you know how much I love food, you know."  
  
She chuckles, which made me smile too. “You're overreacting, Mr. Kang. Let's go.”

The walk to the ramen restaurant was quite long, but I didn't mind walking alongside her in this fair weather. It's not yet quite spring, as if winter wanted to stay for a bit more. She tells me anecdotes of her grad school life, and I share my stories as a team leader in the marketing and sales department. The past two years were good on both of us. She seemed more esteemed about herself, more sure about what she wants, all of which translates to this glow that I can't seem to take my eyes off of. I've been staring at her animated expressions so much, I almost trip a few times. Half an hour later, we arrive at the establishment's queue, around 5 groups in front of us.

 

**Lee Jaehee**

"We're here early and yet there's a line already, huh?" Younghyun and I arrive at the restaurant, with quite a number of people ahead of us in line.  
  
"Yeah, but this queue is actually short already. We'll probably be inside in less than 30 minutes."  
  
He looks so abashed at this information, and I chuckle and reach to pat his shoulder (The man is freaking tall). "It'll be worth it, I promise."  
  
Suddenly, there's a mischievous glint in his eyes, and he suddenly raises his pinky finger, with a grin that's probably supposed to annoy me. I blink several times and look from his hands to his face and back at his hands again. "Are you a kid? Is Wonpil somewhere inside you?" Sometimes I forget that they are related. "What's with people and pinky promises lately?" Jae did this last night too.

Younghyun pouts like a kid, and brings down his hand _very_ slowly. I roll my eyes, audibly sigh, and lift my hands to form half of the pinky swear he was holding up. “Fine.” We hook our pinky fingers together, and I can't help but ask, “What is this for again?”

He holds our connected hands a bit higher, a bit longer, and he's just looking straight at me, who's reflecting the childish grin he's sporting. “A promise of good food ,should always be stamped like this.” He winks, then adjusts our hands so that our thumbs will 'seal' the promise. He then releases our hands.

 

Over the past three years, my crush in Younghyun has waned and waxed like the moon. It especially intensifies every time I see him in person. And while Wonpil kept on talking about his beloved hyung over the past two years, I kept a healthy amount of interest. He is a good looking, charming smartass who probably had girls fawning for him. Whenever I try to fish Younghyun's dating status from Piri, he instantly lights up, confirms that Younghyun is single, and uses that as a chance to practically fanboy over how compatible we are.  
  
“Jaehee, when are you going to date my perfect hyung?” It was one of our Skype sessions, and I have been in Japan for almost a year.  
  
“You literally just complained at how annoying he is, like a few minutes ago?”  
  
Wonpil blew air in his cheeks and pouts. “That is not the point of this conversation anymore. Besides, he just really loves to annoy me. Anyway. Date Younghyun already! You like him, right?”  
  
I rolled my eyes at him, in exasparation at this endless persisting of what he had called the YoungHee ship. Ugh. “Let me correct you, okay? First of all, I only have a crush on him. Get your facts straight. Second of all, how am I supposed to date him when I'm here in Japan. Why do you insist on me dating your hyung anyway? Go find a hobby or something.”  
  
It was Piri's turn to be exasparated. He stood up, stepped back, raised his both hands and choppped them down as he said each word: “Because. You. Are. Perfect. For. Each. Other!" He then sits down, seemingly satisfied at the point he's made. "Promise me that I'll be the wedding singer, okay?”  
  
I hung my mouth open in disbelief. “Are you even listening to me? Why are you freaking planning a wedding already?”  
  
Wonpil just heartily laughs in response and started singing Crush's Beautiful Life, which he knew was a wedding song choice of mine.

As much as I appreciate my best friend as a supportive ship captain, the fact remains that I was in Japan for a good two years. I already did a long-distance relationship once, and I don't plan on doing that shit again. But then now that my Japan exile is coming to an end, it seems like the universe, probably annoyed into action by Wonpil, has decided to test the moon trend - that maybe I could try to look at the man beside me, and welcome the possible reignited attraction.

 

The trailer for the latest film in the Marvel cinematic universe was released while we were in the line. I was instantly giddy with excitement, and once he understood what the fuss was about, we were both grinning. We watch the trailer four times, and then launch an intense discussion on the implications of scenes, the easter eggs in those several minutes of preview, of theories. Being the comic fan between the two of us, Younghyun provides insights based on the source materials, and I watch in fascination as he pulls details from memory, and creates possible scenarios.

We don't notice the time, and the next thing we knew, we are seated in a table facing each other. He orders two different ramen bowls, and then a katsudon, to be served once he says so to maintain the freshness (besides, all of these won't fit our little table). I raise a fascinated eyebrow, almost forgetting how much of a big eater he is. I briefly wonder about his workout regime, given that he looks fit enough despite this huge appetite. He just smiles and gestures for me to order, and goes back to reading the menu. I order a bowl of ramen and a plate of gyoza.

I was watching him peruse the menu in earnest. He suddenly shift his eyes to look at me, and we make eye contact. The way he stares will always be unnverving, but this time I try to fight it off with pursed smile. He smirks, and puts down the menu board. This is probably the longest that we've held eye contact, which is a feat for my introvert self. Younghyun's eyes are as captivating as they are intensely unnerving. I try not to look away, but then he props his right elbow on the table and places his chin over his hands and I lose focus for a few moments. I raise an eyebrow at this gesture, and I try to return whatever it is he's giving off. "Do you actually need those glasses, Younghyun?"

He smiles, perhaps amused. "Nah, but they look good on me, yes?" I answer honestly this time. "Yeah, they do."

I lose the staring contest, and shift my eyes to look at the wall painting above out table. I can still feel his eyes on me, and what he says next catches back my attention.

"So, Jaehee-yah. Did you ever date him?" His expression changes, losing the smile.

"You're just gonna jump the gun, are you? Are you sure you just became friends with Dowoon today?"

"Most of the time, I ask direct questions when I am extremely curious about something." He leans a little bit closer. "So, did you date that sunbae before?"

"Hmm." I ponder on what kind of information to give. "Junmyeon has the ability to make anyone special. I had a bit of crush on him before, and maintaning eye contact with him is both a pleasure and a chore." _I could say the same about you, actually._

Younghyun scrunches his nose very briefly, I almost miss it. "That was too descriptive and yet it did not answer my question."

A smirk crosses my face at the indirect demand of a direct response. I oblige. "Junmyeon's nice and we're friends. But he's got this on-off girlfriend and he's a flirt, as you have witnessed. So no thanks, not gonna dip into that shit again."

"You did like him though? He's being too serious about this conversation, that stare might as well drill a hole into my head so he could scoop the answers he wanted.

A bit flustered at the intensity of his peering eyes, I clear my throat. "Yeah, as I've mentioned, I had a huge crush on him for a while. He's smart, has just recently gotten his PhD. But I kept my distance because he's taken and all that. We're just friends now. My crushes usually don't last long."  _But you seem to be an exception to the rule, Kang Younghyun._

The topic is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of our respective ramen bowls, the katsudon, and the gyoza plate. As self-proclaimed ramen enthusiasts, both of our attention instantly shifts.  
He stands up to take a flatlay photo of our table.  
  
"So you love food and photography huh?"  
  
He sits down and grins widely. "Jaehee, travel is about going around and eating good food!" I laugh at how even his travel philosophy is centered on food. "Also, I just like to take photos of what I like." He then points his phone's rear camera at me, and asks, "Jaehee-yah, can I take your photo with the food?"  
  
It feels like something has gone over my head, and I just nod in response.  
  
"I'm going to send these photos to Wonpil and make sure he's green with envy." A fake evil laugh, that's so fucking adorable and childish, I can only laugh as well.  
  
I pick up my chopsticks, and Younghyun's suddenly speaking too fast. "Canwetakeaselfietoo?"  
  
"What?"  
  
He extends his right arm with his phone in hand, and I immediately understand what he was trying to say. We both smile and he takes so much photos.  
  
"Can we eat now, Sire?"  
  
He nods. He's smiling so widely.  
  
"Itadakimasu!"

 

**Kang Younghyun**

For the most part of the dinner, we ate in comfortable silence. I resurface from my ramen bowl every now and then to give praise, to which she just smugly says, "I told you, food here's great. I take promises seriously."  
  
Jaehee finishes her ramen while I eat the katsudon and my second ramen.  
  
"Eat slowly, will you?" She reprimands me, while picking up a gyoza. "No one's gonna steal your food, Younghyun."  
  
I smile sheepishly in reponse. "Since I still have these to finish, maybe we could finalize your tour guiding schedule?"  
  
She nods and takes out her notebook and pen. "You said yesterday that I have full control of the itinerary, right?" I hum a yes while slurping the noodles.  
  
"No budget restrictions?" I shake my head while taking a bite of the tonkatsu.  
  
"I still have my excel files of my trips, I'll customize them then send it to you tomorrow."  
  
I sip some water. "You're busy tomorrow?"  
  
"Yeah, today's lecture was sort of last minute and I badly need to have some progress with my packing. And then I have another appointment the next day. I'll see you Monday."  
  
"Do you need help with the packing?"  
  
"Nah, I work better alone. And the state of my apartment will apall you."  
  
"Let me know though, if you need a hand." She smiles at this, and then looks at her notebook again. "For tomorrow, you can do a food crawl. I'll send you a list and you can choose from there."  
  
"Sounds perfect."

 

After dinner, we split the bill. She insisted on paying half, while I insisted on paying for everything. We compromised on paying for what we ordered.  
  
Standing on the curb outside the restaurant, I make an attempt to extend the night out with her.

"Jaehee-yah."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Dessert?"  
  
She instantly lights up."Sure!"  
  
We enter a café, and I order iced coffee while she orders a parfait. I hand my card to the cashier and tell Jaehee it's on me. She thanks me and lets me know that she'll find us a table. I finish paying and find her seated by the window, transfixed on the busy street outside. I sit at our table and place her order in front of her.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
As if breaking a daydream, she jolts a bit and turns to me, smiling softly. "I'm fine. It's just that, I will really miss this place and my life here."  
  
"You still have three months left, right? I volunteer my month so that you can make the most out of it." This makes her laugh. "You speak as if I'm not planning things for you."  
  
"You love the planning process though. Or am I imposing on you...?" I belatedly realize that while I'm on a mission here, she has a lot of things on her plate.  
  
"Oh my gosh, that's not what I meant. Relax, Younghyun. I am grateful that I get to tour around a bit more before I leave." There's that soft smile again, before she shifts to a grin. "And at someone else's travel expense, why will I complain?"  
  
"Well, if we're going to trace back who to thank, it's probably Wonpil."  
  
"I agree, he did manage to finally get us on a date.” There are a lot of implications in that sentence, but I focus on the most important one for now. I take my chances with: "So Jaehee, this is a date?"  
Jaehee pauses, realizing what she had said. She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. "Kang Younghyun, it is not in my nature to assume more than I am told." _This is probably why that Jaehyung never had progress with Jaehee huh._  
I can almost see her build a wall of defense. I backtrack a little bit. "But then again, it's not as if it's a date only if you say so too. It should be mutual. For me, this is a date. How about for you, Jaehee?" Trying to sound as casual as I could is hard, especially if the rest of my trip could hinge on her next words.  
  
Jaehee uncrosses her arms, and relaxes. She contemplates while I look at her through the mirror. "I think this counts as a date. A proper first date, perhaps?" She blushes but maintains her composure. "A date set up all the way from Korea, from a certain Kim Wonpil?"  
  
"Well, he had a hand in finally making this happen, but I did fly all the way here to see you so maybe I can take a bit of credit?"  
  
She flicks an eyebrow up. "You came all the way here to see me?"  
  
It's my turn to blush at my slip, but I keep a smirk just so I can hold on to this interesting conversation and see where it goes. "Well, you and the other beautiful things Japan has to offer."  
  
She almost chokes on her water. And we laugh it off like old friends.

 

An hour of conversation later, she looks at her watch and sees the time. "Should we go home?"

"Yeah, sure." I pull an excuse out of thin air and say, "but I actually forgot to give Dowoon something, so I'll take you back home."  
  
She squints her eyes in suspicion. "That is a whole lot of effort for Dowoon."  
  
I raise my hands in surrender. "Fine, I just wanted to extend this date a bit more and at the same time make sure you get home safe. Is that a more proper excuse, Madame?"  
  
She stifles a laugh. "A perfectly acceptable reason, Mr. Kang. I prefer it if you're honest. Let's go, you'll need to catch the train back after you drop me off."

All through out the walk to the station, the train ride, and the walk to her residence, we talked, laughed, and took photos. If this is what every date with Jaehee feels like, I probably should've taken Wonpil's advice a long time ago.

Passing by the nearby convenience store, we hear a familar voice.  
  
"Hey Jae!"

_Oh come on!_

 

* * *

 


	6. Colors

**6. Colors**  
_I try holding out my hand to catch you_  
_But you get farther away_

  
**Park Jaehyung**

To take my mind off Jaehee's dinner date with the new guy in town, I walked to the nearby convenience store, bought a pack of Yakult, and sat down on the stool facing the street. Minutes later, I see a pair walk by and immediately recognize Jaehee. What I'm about to do is petty, but I hardly care.

I walk out of the store and call out for her, "Hey Jae!" She stops in her tracks and looks back in my direction. I jog to stand on her other side and bow to Younghyun in recognition. She looks up at me. "Hey Jae! You're out on a probiotic run?"  
  
"Yo Jaehee. Hm, something like that," I say in response, She reaches for the Yakult set and takes a sip from the straw I was using. This happens so naturally, I can't help but smirk. We resume walking.  
  
She hands it back to me and mumbles, "Thank you Jae."  
  
She then turns to Younghyun. "Jae's here, we'll walk together the rest of the way?"  
  
"Jaehee-yah, it's not in my nature to do things half-assed. Especially when we agreed that it's our first date." _A what now?_ I watch them smile at each other, then she rolls her eyes. "Suit yourself."  
  
She then turns to me. "Jae, did Dowoon tell you who was at the lecture today?"  
  
"Yeah, I heard that Junmyeon sunbae was there. And that he even asked you out. The nerve! Just because he's hella good looking and smart.” I exaggeratedly huff and puff, to which she responds with a pout. "Oh no, is Jaehyungie jealous? You're also really pretty and practically a genius in this sunbae's eyes."  
  
I cross my arms and keep my chin up. “Yeah, right. I would feel better if _only_ I don’t hear you saying that to Dowoon as well.” She just laughs at this, which makes me grin at her, saying, “But I heard that you preemptively rejected him, that’s my girl!" She shrugs, with an air of pride. I guess it's our turn to beam at each other.  
  
"Uhmm, so," Younghyun interjects, and Jaehee instantly breaks our eye contact to turn to him. (I already forgot he was here.) "He's also Jaehyung-ssi's sunbae?"  
  
"Yeah. Jae, Sungjin, and Dowoon are all SNU graduates."

Jaehee's phone suddenly rings, it's a video call from Wonpil, her best friend in Korea.  
  
A loud, high-pitched voice emerges from the device. "Jaehee-yaaaah! Why are you still outside, I need to talk to youuuu!"  
  
"Yo Piri, I'm almost home. Your brother's here, by the way." Jaehee turns her phone towards Younghyun. Wonpil whistles, “Oops, am I interrupting your date, hyung?” Younghyun gives what looks like a sarcastic smile. “Yes my dear dongsaeng, I’m walking my date home and you’re adding to the interruptions.” _Did he just say that out loud??_  
  
I see Jaehee widen her eyes and Wonpil shouts as she snatches the phone back. “I’m sorry hyung, talk to you later okaaaay?”  
  
Jaehee sighs in exasperation. “Are you done now, Piri? Jae's here too." She then turns her phone towards my side.  
  
A bit surprised at the introduction, but I manage a, "Yo, Wonpil!" I’ve talked to Kim Wonpil a handful of times like this before. He’s all the way in Korea and yet I feel like he knows way more than Jaehee when it comes to my feelings for her.  
  
“Hey Jae~ You got impeccable timing walking home, huh?”  
  
I answer his implicating tone with a shrug and a smug smile on my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.”  
  
Wonpil’s grin is so big, I can see his pink gums from the screen. “I believe you, Jae.” And then he laughs hysterically.  
  
Jaehee shakes her head and puts the phone to her ear. "I'll call you later, okay? Love you!"

We arrive at the gate, and I walk further until the apartment building entrance to give them some space. After a few minutes, Jaehee appears beside me. "Hey Jae, why did you wait for me? Anyway, thank you.” We start walking up the stairs.

"Hey Jae, I have a question.” She raises her eyebrows, encouraging me to go ahead. “Are you sure you and Wonpil are just platonic?"  
She laughs at this. "As sure as the sun sets in the west. He's almost akin to a brother, if anything. Not all heterosexual relationships are romantic by default, okay?” I mumble, “I hope I’m included in the default though,” but I don't think she hears it.

We’re walking up the stairs more slowly than usual, but I didn’t mind. She then says, “By the way, about our day trip. Will this coming Sunday work?"

"One day is plenty of time to prepare, trust your Jae." I wink at her, for good measure. She responds with a smile and says, “I always trust you, Jae.”

"So…” I start, and she tilts her head and I manage to summon a quick amount courage and ask her, “Was that a date with Younghyun?"

She pauses midway up a staircase step, slowly puts down her foot, and looks at me. "Ohmygod why is everyone so direct today." She laughs.

I scratch an invisible itch in my temple. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."

"Nah, it's fine. And to answer your question," she smiles softly, as if she couldn't help it, "yeah, I think it was." _Damn, that Younghyun works fast._

Since I’m already doing this, I ask her one more question. "But you're not dating, or a couple...?"

Jaehee shakes her head in response. "It's just one date, Jae.” That’s a good enough answer for me. I still have a chance. As one Korean baseball player once said, "It ain’t over ‘til it’s over."

We arrive at her door, and before she walks in, I call out to her one last time tonight. "Jaehee?"

She turns to me, and tilts her head. "Hm?"  
I am visibly nervous, and I inhale and exhale too deeply. Jaehee laughs a bit, “Are you okay?"

I nod, and then I tell her: "See you on Sunday. It's a date, okay?"

I see her eyes widen in surprise, and I quickly pat her head and run towards my apartment.

**Kim Wonpil**

After Jaehee ends my call, I send my brother a message, “Progress report, please~?” He doesn’t reply for a while; probably still walking Jaehee home.

A few minutes later, he send me a photo in response: a selfie they took in what looks like a restaurant. I decide to call him, and he picks up almost immediately. “Hyung, can’t you at least take a decent selfie? For someone who plays instruments, you have very unsteady hands.” I can hear him rolling his eyes. “I got nervous, okay?”

“Wow, the almighty Kang Younghyun got nervous from taking a photo with a girl?”

“Shut up.”

“For someone who’s good at so many things, you’re so bad at something Jaehee wants her future partner to be good at.”

“I’ll just have her teach me then.”

“Do you know that Jae’s good at photography?”

“Shut up, Wonpil. As if that’s the only criteria Jaehee has. Are you done teasing me? I thought you wanted a,” he shifts to his annoying tone, “prOgrEss rEPoRt?”

“I’ll probably get updates from Jaehee anyway, it’s more fun teasing you, hyung~”

“Fine. I’m ending this call right now.” And he does, the sour sport.

Hyung then sends me photos of him. Good photos which were taken by Jaehee. Next, he sends me photos of Jaehee. Not every single one of them is blurry, but I can imagine that it was her who took photos of him first, and he attempted to recreate her shots when it was her turn.

I send him a text message: "Not bad, hyung. Now you don't need to borrow my phone just to see Jaehee's photos."

Younghyun responds almost immediately, with a decent selfie that Jaehee took. "I want more of these, Piri."

Just then, my phone pings with a message notification from Jaehee. I call her without checking her text, and she rejects it. I wonder what’s wrong.

JaeheeLee: PIRI!!!!!  
*JaeheeLee missed your call*  
JaeheeLee: Can we just text for now?  
YenPil: Okay.  
JaeheeLee: When did I become such a viable single lady?  
YenPil: What are you talking about, please explain.  
JaeheeLee: Apparently that was a date with YH and now it's a date with Jae too. I am so confused Piri. Is this legal?  
YenPil l: Please calm down, my friend.  
(I try calling her again and she rejects it this time too.)  
JaeheeLee: idk why i agreed to call that a date; idk why jae insisted on calling the day out a date; why is this happening just now; what the fuck is happening?????  
YenPil: Are you done?  
JaeheeLee: i am not so special as to charm two attractive men. I'm not even that pretty!  
YenPil: That’s it. Answer the damn call. Lee Jaehee. Let’s talk properly.

She lets the call ring a number of times before answering it. “Hey Pil, I don’t want to think about this tonight. I’ll sleep this off and call you tomorrow instead, okay?”

I haven’t even gotten in a single word and she has already cut the line.

YenPil: I just want you to know that you can talk to me, okay? Sleep the confusion off. I have a light load tomorrow, so let’s talk and call me any time, okay?  
JaeheeLee: Thank you, Pil. 

People have always described Lee Jaehee as resilient and strong. She had her own share of personal tragedies, but she always, always, emerges as a better person. When she got cheated on by her 7-year asshole of an ex-boyfriend, she told me that she only ugly cried and got depression symptoms during the first week. They were on the rocks for pretty much a year or two prior to the cheating, which is probably why Jaehee breezed through the shock and denial stages of grief. The proceeding first year of her singlehood, she traveled abroad a lot for her job which helped her immensely in going through the rest of the grief timeline. But most of all, she was glowing. When Jaehee visited my home that year was when I first noticed Younghyun hyung staring at her too much.

She’ll tell you that she only has a handful of friends, but a lot of people confide in her – because first and foremost, she’s an effective listener. Second, she’s really honest with her opinions and advices if you ever ask her for it. Jaehee is the type to share the most mundane things in life, mostly to me, her best friend. But she is also the type to be very secretive and protective over her own emotions and feelings, even if she can also be the most transparent person I know. While I concur that she has already cleanly gotten over her heartbreak, she has built a high, defensive wall around her figurative heart. While it’s nothing new that she prefers to deal with everything on her own, romantic notions seem to make her a worse recluse than usual. I’ll give her space until tomorrow night though, she’s always true to her words when she says that she’ll talk to me eventually.

   
**Park Sungjin**

Mornings should start with a run, and this spring sunrise is perfect for it, and vice versa. I jog out of the apartment complex and to the nearby park, and see Jaehee on a bench, seemingly deep in her own thoughts.

Jaehee’s in her workout outfit, and is sitting with her legs propped up, hugging them to her chest. I stride towards her and sit on the bench, stretching my legs.

She turns her head to me. “Hey Sungjin, out on a run?”

I remove my cap and nod. “Yeah. How about you?”

“I stopped here on my way back.”

“You finished running already? It’s just about 6AM.”

She reverts back to looking to the front. “Yeah, I woke up at 3 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I’ve run around since 4AM to tire myself out.”

“That’s a _lot_ of mileage, I’m impressed. But you seem bothered, Jaehee. Is it because Jae finally had the guts to ask you out?”

She sighs, and bows her head to her knees. “Not you too, Sungjin? Was I _that_ dense?” I just smile at her in response. She then turns to face me again. “Did I ever do anything to make Jae feel like I was stringing him along?”

I look straight at her, making sure she’s listening to the next words that I say.

“Jaehee-yah, you’re a good person. And very transparent with your feelings, most of the time. So no, Jae never felt that you were leading him on. It was obvious that Jae’s cheesy words and actions always get over your head because you see him as a very good friend.”

“I’m not sure if the second thing’s a compliment. But thank you for being honest with me, Sungjin.”

“Don’t beat yourself up too much. Jae would feel bad if he knew that you’re going on your date tomorrow with such heavy thoughts. Just enjoy it, Jaehee.” I pat her head, and she smiles at me. I stand up, put my cap on, and once again look at her; she’s sitting straight now. “I gotta run, see you around Jaehee.” 

 

When Jae got home last night, he was red in the face. He walked straight to the couch, sat down, and put both his hands over his face. Dowoon’s in his room playing videogames, so I’m on my own with dealing with the flustered Park Jaehyung.

I took a seat beside him. “Any interesting that happened?” He nodded, his face still in his hands. Looks like this is a guessing game, huh.

“Did you confess to Jaehee?” He shook his head.

“Did you ask her out on a date?” With this statement, he shot his head up, eyes wide. Calming down after a second he nods.

“Good for you, Jae.” I pat his back and leave him alone.

Park Jaehyung is one of the most confident people I know, but he definitely lost the said aura when we first met Jaehee. It was September, and we were moving our stuff into the unit. A girl our age, with shoulder-length wavy hair and wire-rimmed glasses, popped her head through the crack in the door and introduced herself in English. I’ve known Jae since his university days, and the look in his face when he saw her was as priceless as it was rare – he was instantly drawn to her, as if love at first sight. He then replied to her in the most cringey English introduction he’s ever made, “Howdy, my name’s Jae.” She lets herself in, and Jae shakes her hand while prominently staring at her, smitten with no intention to hide it. I had to fake cough out loud just to break the awkward smile on Jaehee’s face.

Pleasantly surprised to learn that her new neighbors are Korean and are studying in the same university as she does, Jaehee and the rest of us were friends in no time.

In the six months since that day, I watched Jae always look at Jaehee whenever she’s in the room, amused and in admiration of everything she says and does when he’s not busy joking around and laughing with her.

The first week after we met Jaehee, in our first Friday drinking session, Jae announced that he likes her. I can’t fully understand how people fall in love in a short span of time, but I have no doubt in the sincerity of Jae’s feelings for Jaehee. It’s been half a year since then, but whenever I ask Jae about confessing to Jaehee before she goes back home to Korea, he just says that he’s content with their current relationship. In the hundred times that he’s said this, I’ve never believed him once.

But it seems like with the arrival of the spring, blooming feelings and realized intentions are abound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate Jaehee too much hahahaha


	7. Talking To

**7\. Talking To**  
_It's normal_  
_For me to talk to myself_  
_After you left_

**Lee Jaehee**

Perhaps it's the two-hour run that made me crave for sleep, but talking to Sungjin this morning brought some sort of peace of mind. "Just enjoy it," he said. I take a short bath to get the sweat off, and my bed welcomes me back as I drift to sleep.  
  
Three hours later, I woke up to a text notification. It was Jae.  
chickenjaelittle: Hey Jae. Smile more. Makes you happier. Read it on google. K, that is all.  
jaeheelee: A good morning you too, Jae.  
chickenjaelittle: Also, see you tomorrow 9AM. ;)  
  
Before I spiral into the whole repetition of replaying last night's events and getting flustered, I distract myself with the one chore I've kept on delaying the past few days: packing up. Clothes, papers, and books are boxed up, and before I know it, it's already 3 in the afternoon. Stretching my arms, I figure that I could use a short run, and so to the local supermarket I go. Before showering, I message Piri to call me at around 5pm if he's available; he mentioned that he has light load today so I guess he’s doing overtime on a Saturday.  
  
Jogging around the neighborhood, I realize that spring has arrived. There’s less chill in the air for the time of the day, and flower buds waiting to bloom are perched upon the several Sakura trees in the area. Predictions have mentioned that Tokyo will have its cherry blossom in full bloom in a few days; I make a mental note to invite the boys on a flower viewing (hanami) for their first Tokyo spring. My thoughts direct me to Jae and then tomorrow’s date, and subsequently, I am also reminded of Younghyun and last night’s dinner. I shake these thoughts out of my head and run the last hundred meters to the grocery store.

After catching my breath, I bolt for the ice cream section. I scan the choices from over the freezer, and just when I was about to open it, someone else does. “Cookie dough, right?” I nod but at the same time internally startled, because I knew the voice’s owner. I look up to see Jae beaming at me and holding the ice cream tub I was going for. “Hey Jae,” he starts, “you ran again today?”

I take the ice cream from him and put it on my cart, and we start walking towards the cashier lanes. “Yeah, I did run for a few rounds before going here. But, hey, where did ‘again’ come from?”

We pass through the international foods section, and he takes several packs of Korean ramyeon. “Ah, that. Sungin told me you ran early this morning. We tell each other everything, you know, since we’re a domestic family. He’s totally like a single mom with two sons.” He nods to himself, probably amused at how witty he was, which makes me smile. I try not to think about the part about the ‘telling each other everything’, since I know I can always trust Sungjin.

I walk a bit faster and he adjusts his pace effortlessly with his long legs. “Hey Jae, my ice cream needs to survive, are you going to run with me on the way back?” He just hums a non-committal response.

We pay for our comfort food haul and I am a few steps behind him as we walk towards the exit. Upon stepping outside the doors, he suddenly turns around, and I bump into his chest. I quickly step back, and nursing my forehead, I look up at him with my brows furrowed. Jae just laughs and then apologizes. “So, I actually have a few things left to do for our date tomorrow, so you can go ahead, Jaehee-yah.” He raises a hand to pat my head and walks away too fast, as he did the night before. I am left dazed, but I can’t help but chuckle at the déjà vu. I take deep breathe, and, clutching my canvass shopping bag, I run back home.  
  
At around 6PM, after I’ve showered and prepared dinner, the Skype call tone rings throughout the apartment. He doesn't bring up the critical matter at hand, and instead gives me his work and life updates. I've always appreciated this side of my best friend; he ensures that I am at my most comfortable when I am about to be vulnerable. He recognizes how I need time to lower the gates I’ve built; he's as patient as he is a good listener.

We eat dinner together through our screens, as we often did the past two years. After excusing ourselves to deal with the dishes for a while, I sit in front of my screen with Wonpil already in it. His pursed smile tells me that he’s ready to switch roles and be on the receiving end. I give back the same pursed smile, inhaling deeply with my eyes closed. After a prolonged exhale, I open my eyes and look straight at him, and begin.

“So, uhm, I went on a date, _ex post facto_ , with your hyung, like you always wanted.” He only nods; his face doesn’t even show the usual grin that lights up whenever his ship remotely sails. _I have the best human friend ever._

“And then, Jae informed me that tomorrow’s a date, because clearly, it has to be announced beforehand so that my romance-deprived brain could understand.”

I lean back on my chair, and stare at the ceiling. “It’s not as if I never noticed that Jae treats me well, or that he always jokes about or hints at crushing on me, or that I’ve never thought that maybe he looks at me a bit differently and bit more intense than Dowoon and Sungjin.”

I shift my head to check Wonpil’s reaction, who has a palm under his tilted head, listening intently and without judgement.

“It’s just that I don’t have the self-confidence to assume with finality that he perhaps has a crush on me. Besides, Jae is a good person and a really good friend. What I have let myself conclude is that everything he said and did towards me is because of his personality. Is that… the wrong way to approach things, Piri?”

At the sound of his name, Wonpil sits straight, with his eyebrows meeting in furrowed concentration. After a few heartbeats, he finally says, “You’re being too hard on yourself again, Jaehee-yah.” I wince, but I nod in agreement. He continues, “I don’t think Jae ever expected you to figure things out on your own; not when I think he understands how you perceive his friendship. So to answer your question, your approach was actually quite logical, my dear friend.”

I thank him with a small smile, and ask, “Am I making too much of a big deal out of this?”

Wonpil chuckles, and I almost feel him putting an arm around me saying, “Short answer is yes, but I will give you the long version of that, of course.”

He moves his face a bit closer to the screen, with laced hands supporting his chin. “Well,” he begins, “you have a very self-aware personality, so you already admitted to having a hard time believing that other people can be attracted to the smart, beautiful person that you are. So maybe work on that?”

He pauses and I blink fast in response, as if sending a gibberish morse code that meant to say, ‘You are being too direct, but noted.’

Wonpil’s brand of tough love often catches me off-guard, but only because he’s only managed to pull it off a very few times in the past.

“Is it a big deal that you finally went out on a date after four years of being the poster girl of happy singlehood? Yes, of course! And according to my very reliable source, Younghyun-hyung had a wonderful time.” I blush at the mention of his name and Wonpil’s raised eyebrow tells me that he’s caught that reaction.

“Anyway,” he presses on, “do I think that you’re over-reacting just because you’re going out with Jae tomorrow? Yes, I do, but I have no objections over whatever you’re feeling because those are valid. But do tell me, Jaehee, have you figured out yet why you’ve reacted like,” he gestures his hands wildly at me, “this?”

Another thing I love about Wonpil is that he somehow always knows the right jabs to deliver. I have redirected my attention to everything else for most of the day, and so this is the first time I’m confronting this line.

He waits for me to compose my thoughts, and after sitting in silence for a few minutes, I let the words flow. “Primarily because I didn’t know how else to react? And then all the implications of going on a date with a good friend dawns on me, just after I went on a date with my old crush.

"You know how I usually deal when my thoughts overflow, right?” He nods knowingly in response. “So I shut everything up and distracted myself with sleep and chores and running. Which is, you have to admit, a very productive way from turning away from current dilemmas. Anyway, I guess you could say that for someone who dated one guy for seven years and was subsequently single for the past four, I am exceedingly overwhelmed. Does this make sense?”

Wonpil is sitting far back into his chair, his head supported by his right arm. “Jaehee, it’s not as if I’m asking these questions so I can understand. If it honestly makes sense to you, that’s all I need.” He grins at me, and I smile back.

“Anyway, I met Sungjin this morning, and you know what he said?” Wonpil shakes his head. I continue, “he said that I should just enjoy it. I’m not sure how much Sungjin knows, but I’m thinking of following that advice. Keeping my mind off things also calms me down, and talking to Sungjin was immensely helpful. That one comment made a ton of sense, you know. And then while on an ice cream run, I accidentally bumped into Jae. I got surprised when he suddenly appeared beside me, but other than that, it wasn’t awkward at all. I even forgot all about the date during the few minutes we were together.”

Wonpil has now shifted to lean his head onto his left arm, a passive smile on his face. “I really want to meet that Sungjin hyung in person. So, you’re going to tomorrow’s,” he pauses and types on the chat box, and I hear him press enter as he says, “Sundate With Jae?”

I nod my head a few times, and trying to convince myself, I nod a bit more.

“Well,” Wonpil starts, a gummy grin plastered on his face, “you did great with your dinner date with Younghyun-hyung, I’m sure you’ll be fine with Jae.” He winks, and I roll my eyes. “But try not to fall for Jae too much, okay? I’m still rooting for the YoungHee ship to sail!”

“As much as you’ve been very helpful tonight, shut up, Wonpil.”

“I love you too, Jaehee!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to upload the Sundate With Jae chapter within the next few days. ^^


	8. Chocolate

**8\. Chocolate**  
_I’m afraid_  
_You’ll notice my feelings_  
_So I started going to you but then stepped back_  
_But at this rate_  
_I think I’ll go crazy_

**Park Jaehyung**

Sungjin, Dowoon, and I arrived in Japan when Jaehee was in her last year of Master’s. Her original group of friends have already graduated, so she was glad when her new neighbors are of the same nationality and will be studying in the same university as hers. She’s younger than me and Sungjin, but she’s technically our senior here, so we drop the formalities. Between her laughing at my jokes and poking fun at me, the deep conversations and the casual, random chats, and just having an amazing time whenever we’re together, we became good friends while I kept on collecting reasons for liking her.

After I got a congratulatory smack from Sungjin last night (he’ll probably describe is as ‘pat to my back’ but that man is hella strong and sometimes doesn’t know control), I wrote down a plan of sorts. I spent the next half day on inquiring regarding reservations, researching for apt places to go, and making an excel sheet to print so that I can impress her.

By 4 in the afternoon, I’m almost finished with my preparations, and I decide to make a stop by the supermarket to replenish the instant ramyeon stash for the apartment on the way to the pharmacy and the printing shop.

From the other side of the street, I see Jaehee running fast towards the mart’s entrance, and I jog to follow suit. She makes a beeline for the frozen foods section, and seems startled when I took the ice cream tub out for her. I have practically indirectly confessed to her when I redefined our day out as a date, but it seems that neither Jaehee nor I remembered this little fact.

While I revel in the level of comfort that our relationship has, it makes me kinda mad too. And thus, when she awkwardly bumped straight into me once we were outside, I mention the date to remind us both. It’s time to make her flustered about it too. I pat her head and power walk out of there, just like the night before.

I print out the card that I spent the afternoon laying-out, which includes a very official-looking invitation to tomorrow’s date, a summary of activities that reveals nothing except for timestamps and vague locations, and a reminder to bring a camera with her. Before going up to the apartment, I had Dowoon check if Jaehee was back home, and he confirms it. I walk to her front door, take a deep breath, and slip the invitation card under it, knock in the usual pattern that I do so that she knows it’s me, and run to the stairwell. From there, I send her a text: “You are cordially invited. See you tomorrow, m’lady. ;)” I hear her door close, and I receive a response from her: “Got the invitation, Sir. See you tomorrow. :)”

I wake up at 6 AM the next day, in time to see Jaehee leave the complex for her morning run. Sungjin arrives an hour later, talking to someone as he opened the door, “You’ll be fine, Jaehee-yah!” I give him a glass of water and inquire, “She’s nervous?” Sungjin just smirks, hands the glass to me, and says, “But not more than you, Jae. Go take a bath a fix up yourself already.”

At exactly 9 AM, I knock on her door with a Yakult in hand. She emerges in her dark pink knee-length dress, leggings, and lavender overcoat, a tote bag slung over her right shoulder. It’s not as if she has dressed differently for today, but I can’t help but smile at the fact that she _is_ dressed for our date and has coincidentally matched my dark purple overcoat.

I was probably staring at her (again), because she’s now waving a hand in front of my face. “Is that for me?” she points her lips toward the Yakult, and grins. I hand her the drink and offer my elbow, “Shall we, m’lady?” She sips at the drink and looks from my face to my elbows back and forth a few times with furrowed eyebrows. I just respond with a smile. She rolls her eyes and smirks, and loops her arms into mine. “Let’s go, Jae.”

I reveal our first set of destinations to her while we were entering the train station, and she had to unlink our arms as she covers her mouth in elated joy. I ache at the loss of skinship but if it meant seeing her smile like that, it’s worth it, I guess. Jaehee has always wanted to go to Tokyo’s pet cafés, but they cost so much, she said that she’d rather spend the money on travelling. She’s mostly a cat person, calling on every cat she encounters and petting them when they allow her to. She loves animals in general, something that we share in common (though I am more of a dog person). So, I made reservations to a cat café for brunch, a dog café for dessert, and a rabbit café for afternoon coffee.

While her initial reaction is excitement, she suddenly shifts to worry. “But you’re allergic to dogs, Jae.”

“Jaehee, I already took anti-histamine meds. I got a bunch here in my bag as well. I also bought a mask in case it got me sneezing for the rest of the day. It won’t kill me, I’ll be fine. Okay?”

She hesitates a bit, and then nods, “Okay, if you say so.”

The train ride and walk to the cat café took almost an hour and a half, because Jaehee has already brought out her camera and has started to take photos. “You made me bring this so we can also do a photo walk, right?” She’s smiling so widely, and I take that as her appreciative response for knowing her so well. Spring is itching to arrive, the Sakura blossoms will be blooming in a few days.

In all these, my eyes are trained on her, walking a few steps behind her as she takes macro photos of the buds, the tree foliage, of me. At one point, I take out my camera and take a few shots of her. She catches me doing so and smiles for the camera, and we do this cliché thing where I'm taking a photo of her taking a photo of me.

  
At the cat café, we order brunch and have the random depths of conversation as we usually do. When she finished her food, she’s off chasing the cats and petting them, and for the rest of the hour, I ended up watching her run around. I whip my phone out to capture these moments, and she sometimes even poses with the cats. _She’s such a dork._

Jaehee returns to our table, her black leggings covered in cat hair. She asks for my phone to check the photos. Beaming at the pictures, she suddenly pouts and looks at me. “Hey! Were you taking a video?”

 _Ah, I got caught._ “This will definitely go into my vlog, you know.” I shrug and take the phone away from her before she deletes it.

She playfully scoffs, “You’re vlogging our date? I can’t believe you, Park Jaehyung. Youtube fame is eating you alive.”

“Ha! You said date!” I pump my fist in victory.

“I said what I said.” It was her turn to shrug, and she stands up and walks to the ladies’ room.  
  
**Lee Jaehee**

We don’t order dessert at the cat café because apparently, we’ll be having it in the dog café. Nevertheless, we order sandwiches with our cake sampler slices, because the 40-minute walk towards here practically digested the pastas we had at the previous place. It took long because we were doing a photo walk again, the imminent arrival of spring brings forth a lot of interesting sights to see.

Quite different to the cat café, we were surrounded by trained dogs who sat by our side and didn’t beg for food while we ate. We petted them to our heart’s content, and after our table was cleared, Jae had a bunch of dogs on his lap. I bring out my camera and take snaps of him looking elated at being able to hug and smother these creatures without his allergies taking over. He told me once that he genuinely wanted a dog, and that he tried having one, but he had to give it away to a relative because the meds only worked temporarily.

Park Jaehyung’s laugh is infectious, and watching him with the dogs makes me swell with happiness. At one point, Jae yells at me through the lens, “Jaehee-yah, put down the damn camera and just play with them!” And I do as I’m told.

By the café’s doors, we were lint-rolling away the dog fur from our dark-colored clothes. Jae stands by the cashier and pays for our bill, and I have my arms crossed over my chest. When he turns around, he raises an eyebrow at my posture, “What’s the problem, Jaehee-yah?”

“Do you really plan to pay for everything today?”

He squints his eyes at me and regards my facial expression. “That is a trick question. There is only one correct answer and that should be a ‘no’, right?”

“Send me today’s total and I’ll pay you for the half, okay?”

“I understand, m’lady. But please stop using that tone? I’m scared.” He makes an exaggerated scared face, and I laugh in response.

For the rabbit café, we take a short train ride and a shorter walk. A quaint café with little balls of white fluff in the most random of places, Jae and I arrive during their sleeping time, and very few were active. Jae orders a tall coffee while I have my second dessert – a parfait. He’s taking photos of the rabbits sleeping in the table next to ours, and I’m watching him as I always do when he shoots – with artistic admiration.

“Hey Jae?” I call his attention to ask him a question. He turns to me and places his camera on the table, “Yes, Jaehee-yah?” He takes a long sip of his coffee.

“Jae, since when did you have bad eyesight?”

“Since I was a teen, I guess?”  
“How bad is it?”

Jae removes his spectacles. "Without it, I can't see you clearly anymore." He moves his face closer, up until to middle of table. "Now, you're a little bit clearer." He then stands up, bends down his back a bit until his face is a about five inches away from mine. "I can see you very clearly now, Jaehee." He's not smiling, and he's staring straight into my eyes. I blink too many times in a row. He then smiles, pinches my cheek for a second, and returns to his seat. "Just kidding, I had lasik surgery a few years ago. I really don't need to wear glasses anymore but I feel more confident in them." Still a bit flustered, all I manage is an, "Oh."

He smirks, and says, "Glad to know that I have some sort of effect on the great Lee Jaehee." I think I'm blushing, and he just laughs.

We leave the rabbit café at around 3 in the afternoon, and when Jae reveals that the next location is just 10 minutes away – Yoyogi Park, I stare at him in confusion. “Why there?”

We start walking, and he replies, “Well, it’s a great place to do another photo walk session.” I nod in agreement.

He then adds, “I remembered you telling me a story about travelling solo to Tokyo for the first time, when you rode a bike here in Yoyogi Park, and that it was something you weren’t able to do again once you came back as a student because you’re not a tourist anymore. And that you wanted to go with someone who wouldn't mock you for it.”

I’m quiet for a few moments, because all I can say in response is, “You remembered that, Jae?”

“It didn’t make sense as to why you can’t just go and do it, but I figured I could be that one person who will never mock you for anything, much less a bike ride in a park.”

I’m immensely touched that he remembered this, when I forgot about it already. I realize that this guy could sweep me off my feet if only I didn’t have my romance blinders on. That Park Jaehyung is a catch, and yet I am not sure about how I feel about all of these. In true Jaehee fashion, I throw these thoughts under my ‘to-deal-with-later’ rug, and mutter a quiet thank you.

“We’re not even there yet, and you’re thanking me already. Save it for until the end of today, okay?” He lifts his camera and points it at me, and I smile widely for him.

**Park Jaehyung**

Jaehee has planned literally every single trip we made since September, and she genuinely enjoys the process. I once spent a Saturday afternoon watching her do research, make calls, and create a spreadsheet of a budget and itinerary for a weekend trip for four. In between her infinite eye rolls at my uselessness and my pretending to play a game on my phone, I probably stared at her too much.

“Jae, if you have time to idle around, please suggest some activities that the boys would like to do?”

“Jaehee-yah, we’ll love whatever we end up doing, so you can decide on your own. Makes the process easier, right?”

A throw pillow lands on my head, and I lift my eyes from my phone to see her typing away on her laptop and shaking her head in disappointment. She’s smiling though, and when she looks back at me and mouths, “What?”, I just shrug.

And thus, when I volunteered to plan for this whole date, I wanted it to be extra special. A day filled with things she likes, and the things she loves to do. Cats, food, photography, and parks (hopefully a Park Jaehyung as well, but we’ll work on that).

The look on her face when I mentioned about the reason for Yoyogi Park was priceless. Jaehee’s facial expressions are often transparent; and I can read the amount of gratitude she has that I remembered these details. All these efforts are always worth it if she smiles like that, at me.

We continue our photo walk inside the park, and we get lost a few times while trying to find where the damn cycling course is. When we get to it, I let Jaehee ride first, telling her that I’ll take photos of her and walk around for a while. She passes by me several times, and after 15 minutes, I rent one too and we were off racing against each other in no time.

“You’re in a dress. And yet. You pedal. So fast.” I am struggling for air as I remove myself from the bicycle and sit beside her in a bench, the imaginary finish line we’ve set.

She gulps water but is just breathing normally. “Jae, you should run with me and Sungjin some time.” I shake my head in response, and focus on getting my breathing back to normal.

She offers me her bottled water. “Once you’re okay, let’s just ride leisurely, okay?” I nod aggressively and down the rest of the water.

We spent the rest of the rental hour as promised, taking in the simplicity of the moment and the scenery. By the time we were done, the sun was setting. We simultaneously looked at each other, and we say something at the same time, “golden hour.”

We make our way towards the park’s exit that nearest to our station, with an unspoken agreement to let each other be as we take one last photo walk of the day. I mostly take photos of her, of the landscape, of people, of dogs. And then of her, again, and again, as if an invisible thread pulls my camera lens to wherever she was.

When we arrive at the train station, it’s properly night time already. “Jaehee-yah, we’ll have dinner somewhere familiar; will that be alright?”

She nods. “It’s your itinerary, I’ll just follow you, Jae.”

**Park Sungjin**

According to Jae’s excel file of schedule, they should be arriving by now. Dowoon and I have finished cooking, and are lounging by the balcony to get a premiere view of how their first date are progressing so far.

“Hyung, do you think Jaehyung-hyung’s grand gestures today will still go over noona’s head?”

“Haven’t you been listening when I told you that Jae made it clear to her that today’s a _date?_ ”

“I was, but look at a that.” He nods towards the two figures walking down our street, laughing and animatedly talking to each other. “They look like the same old friends to me.”

“They do enjoy each other’s company, eh? Oh well, the night’s literally young. Let’s go Dowoon-ah, let’s help Jaehyung get his girl.”

 

Yesterday, I watched in amusement as Jae run around the apartment since arriving after my morning run. Despite being the smart guy on a scholarship studying his multimedia arts master’s degree in Japan, Jae has never put as much effort into his academics. He does read a lot in his free time, but to be fair, he also games a lot; so, I honestly think that he’s just really smart. By lunch, he’s finished making phone calls, and after eating, Dowoon and I have been somehow roped into his plans for his date with Jaehee. We oblige with his requests (of course, with some sort of payment that we’ll cash in later), helping him secure a permit, shop for materials, and set-up a location.

Jae arrived just before dinner, and finalizes everything before camping in his shared room with Dowoon. At around 11 PM, I heard the maknae shout at the eldest: “Ah hyung! Let me sleep! Stop practicing already! We’re gonna get complaints from the neighbors again!” I jumped out of my bed and walked to their door, which I opened a fraction to pop in my head and told Jae, “Try to sleep already Jae, you’re gonna be great tomorrow. For now, just get some beauty sleep, okay?”  His pursed smile tells me he probably will have a hard time getting sleep, but he finally laid down on his bed. I turn off their lights, and before the door closed, I heard Jae say, “Thank you for all the help, Sungjin-ah.”

  
Dowoon played the look-out to make sure that we leave the apartment in time to walk one floor behind Jae and Jaehee. When they arrive at our apartment building’s semi-open rooftop, Jae leaves the door half open so we can be in the floor landing’s shadows.  
From my position, I see Jaehee looking confused. “Is this legal?”

Jae responds with an, “I thought you trust me?” He pouts, and she just chuckles. Jae switches on the lights and watches her face light up in surprise and awe. Jaehee looks up at Jae and smiles, “Okay, no more questions, I swear. It’s beautiful up here, when did you set this up?” A blanket was set up under a low, utensils-filled table, with throw pillows for cushion and a portable heater positioned to each seat’s right side. Overhead, warm led lightbulbs hung to illuminate their small dining space.

Jaehee returns to admiring the set-up, and Jae watches her with the softest smile that he only ever does for her. She once again looks up at him, catching his gaze for a few seconds. She then shifts her eyes forward and does an awkward cough, and says, “So, are we having food delivered here?”

I look at Dowoon and we take that as our cue, and we emerge from the door with food in our hands. Jaehee looks surprised at our appearance, mouths “Why are you here?” at me, and then looks at Jae for an explanation.

Jae gets the plates from Dowoon’s hands and places it on the table, saying, “I’ve commissioned my roommates to be the chef, I figured you’d want homemade Korean cooking.” I follow suit, while Dowoon runs back to get the rest of the side dishes.

Jaehee walks to the table, then turns to me, “I can’t believe he made you and Dowoon do this.”

“Our services are not cheap, so enjoy the night, okay?” I gesture for her to sit down and Jae puts an additional coat around her shoulders, while I point at the extra blanket just in case it’s still too cold. Dowoon arrives with the rest of the food, and sets it up while Jae fumbles for his camera and sets it up on a tripod. We take photos of the whole crew and then of just the two of them. Worried about the food’s warmth, I usher a hesitant Dowoon out of the door (“But hyung, I want to witness this as a highly invested audience member!”) and leave them alone.

**Park Jaehyung**

I didn’t expect that we’d be starving by the time we arrived, but thankfully, Dowoon and Sungjin cooked a lot. Despite the night’s cold weather, the portable heaters provided enough warmth. We eat in comfortable silence, and every now and then Jaehee grimaces or chuckles at something that happened during the day, and we’ll laugh about it together.

When we finish our meal, I stand up and get something from the shadows, and I see the anticipation in Jaehee’s face when she sees the guitar in my hand. “We’re gonna end today on a jamming session?”

I sit again in front of her and make sure my guitar’s in tune (even though I rechecked it multiple times last night and even asked Sungjin to check again today). “Not quite.” I smile at her and she has a curious brow raised.

I perform a song* I’ve written; it’s practically a love letter announcing that I like her. Knowing Jaehee, though, I will have to be more direct. And sure enough, after she claps and gushes about how beautiful the song was, I don’t see her recognizing the song to be about her, for her. “That was amazing, Park Jaehyung! Are you gonna send that to record labels? Park Bogum could totally rock that song!”

“Why thank you for being an immediate fan girl, Ms. Lee.” I force a smile. “I think JYP Entertainment can give this song to that awesome band they have. I’ll think about your suggestion.”

She stands up and walks toward the rooftop’s ledge, and stares at the night sky. I leave my guitar and stand beside her, looking at her while her eyes are somewhere else. It feels like this happens too often. She suddenly grows quiet, and looks at me. "Thank you for today, Jae. I had fun. It's always easy when it's you.”

My instant crush on Lee Jaehee has evolved as the days went by since knowing her, and while I have convinced myself that I am content with being just her friend, I have unconsciously made efforts toward this moment. When she said those words, something inside me snaps. I sigh, and I look straight into her eyes. She holds it longer than she usually does, and before she breaks the eye contact, I tell her everything.  
  
“I don't want to be just a comfortable presence to you. I want to make your heart flutter the way you make me do. You're the kindest, smartest, most beautiful, most amazing person I've ever met. And I like you so much, Lee Jaehee. More than a friend, I like you. Mostly, I just wanted you to know. I didn't want to expect anything in return. But if you could give me a chance, that's all I ask.”

 

* * *

 

If anyone guessed the song Jae "wrote", let me know. ;)

 

> **I Like You (좋아합니다)**
> 
> In life, there aren’t many days  
>  When things go your way  
>  There are more days when it didn’t go my way  
>  Will today be another one of those days?  
>  I am pretty worried
> 
> After I tell you these words  
>  I’m not sure if we can go back  
>  To smiling like we are now  
>  But I have to
> 
> I Like you  
>  I tried holding it back  
>  But I can’t anymore
> 
> Now I can tell you  
>  I want to love  
>  You
> 
> Your eyes are shaking  
>  It’s shaking up my heart
> 
> After this moment  
>  I’m not sure if we can go back  
>  To being natural  
>  But I have to  
>    
>  I Like you  
>  I tried holding it back  
>  But I can’t anymore
> 
> Now I can tell you  
>  I want to love
> 
> I’ve thought of you like this  
>  But if you don’t feel the same
> 
> You just need to tell me  
>  “I’m sorry” and  
>  I’ll be fine
> 
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daoMYJv8i0c>


	9. Be Lazy

**9. Be Lazy**  
_Heaven is right here right now_  
_So why go outside?_  
_Stay safe under the blanket_  
_It’s too dangerous outside_

**Yoon Dowoon**

Sungjin-hyung and I are playing an online mobile game in the living room when Jae enters the apartment. I spare him a quick glance before going back to my game, and I comment, “How is it hyung? Did she fall in love with you and you’re gonna get married tomorrow?” This rightfully earns a throw pillow smack to my face, and I have no doubt that it’s Sungjin-hyung. Nevertheless, I complain loudly without confirming who it was. “What was that for?!”

Met with silence, I press pause on the game and see Sungjin-hyung looking worried. I follow his gaze, landing on a Park Jaehyung who has his face down, with both arms stretched across the dining table, and a beer in his left hand. Wordlessly, we stand up, and Sungjin-hyung grabs the chair to his right while I walk over to the fridge and get beers for us. I sit to Jaehyung-hyung’s left, and I clink my bottle to his. This somehow prompts him to finally speak.

“I hope I don’t regret this.” He pulls his upper body upright, and then melts to a hunched sitting position. Looking straight ahead, he continues, “It was a perfect day and yet she said that I’m easy to be with. I might have played the goofy, dependable friend a tad too well, for a bit longer than I should've."

Confused at Jaehyung-hyung's monologue, I sip at my beer while I wait for Sungjin-hyung to react. "Jae, what exactly happened?"

The older hyung bumps his head towards the table and starts groaning. If it's because it physically hurt or because of his emotional agony, I'm not sure. Probably both.

I begin to stand, intending to get some ice and a towel, when Jaehyung-hyung abruptly lifts his head and sits upright again. Pressing the beer can to his forehead, he says, "I confessed to her. It wasn't in any of my plans. But after singing the damn song, it felt so unfair that she still refused to see me as more than a friend. So I eloquently told her my feelings."

I am reflecting the expression that crosses Sungjin-hyung's face: wide eyes and a silent "Oh." I recover faster from the surprise, and beat him with the first reaction. "Wow, congratulations hyung. You finally did it!"

Sungjin-hyung follows-up with the more important query. "But you're moping because of how she responded?"

Jaehyung-hyung nods. "She was so surprised, and looked like she was going to run away but decided not to at the last minute. Then she said, 'Can you give me some time to process this?'" He turns to Sungjin-hyung, and says, "What if this ruins our friendship, Sungjin? I don't know what I'm gonna do if we're not even friends after this."

The eldest just pats his back and raises his beer in sympathy. I wanted to say something to make Jaehyung-hyung feel better, and so I open my darn mouth. "Hyung, you are really good friends with her. Jaehee-noona won't throw you away just because you like her more and she can't reciprocate that."

Sungjin-hyung throws me a glare so intense, I may have cowered if not for Jaehyung-hyung's laughing. "Dowoon-ah, those truth bombs will kill someone someday," the elder comments.  
  
  
**Kang Younghyun**

I wake up on Monday to a message notification from Jaehee, asking me to check my email.    

> Dear Younghyun,
> 
> Please see attached files for the customized itinerary that you can schedule for the rest of your stay here. I'm afraid I can't tour you around anymore. Enjoy Japan!
> 
> Jaehee

I'm baffled at this turn of events, but can only pinpoint one cause: her date with Jaehyung yesterday. I send Wonpil a message, and he confirms that he also received an oddly formal e-mail. She informed him that she's going off the grid for a few days, but doesn't provide a reason for it. Finally, he texts me this: "Hyung, I'll figure out what's going on and get back to you by lunch time." 

While waiting for Wonpil to figure out what's happening, I check all her social media for any clues and find nothing. I begin packing up, since I'll be moving my lodging to a more convenient location by tomorrow. I got nothing better to do anyway. 

By lunch, I'm almost finished, so I decide to walk to the nearby karaage restaurant. My phone rings upon reaching the lobby, and it's Wonpil. I take his call while leisurely walking. "Yo Piri what's up?"

"Hey hyung, you're about to have lunch? I got some time to spare so I'm giving you the Jaehee Recluse Updates now." I feel like Wonpil is having too much fun with giving titles to the unnecessary things.  
  
"You have a title for this arc, huh? Anyway. Yeah sure I'm just walking around right now. Go ahead."   
  
"I did some social media stalking, and found a Jae who tweeted a cryptic line: "I hope I don't regret this". I bet he finally confessed to Jaehee after six months of pining for her. Unlike some other people who takes years before taking action."  
  
I manage to slide in a retort, "Please concentrate on the matter at hand and just diss me later, Kim Wonpil."  
  
"Anyway, since I'm friends with Dowoon, we've been messaging this morning." He pauses, then says. "Hyung, wait a second." I hear a muffled Wonpil talking to what seems like a female voice. "I'll send you the screenshots of our conversation, Hyung. I'll have a quick lunch first okay?"  
  
I find myself grinning, and I respond with, "Oooh does my little brother Wonpil have a lunch date?"  
  
"Shut up, hyung." Suddenly, he whispers, "It's just... lunch." I can already imagine him blushing.   
  
"Okay, have a fun lunch non-date, then~" Wonpil is always transparent with his feelings, that not even a phone call can hide it.  
  
"Ah hyungggg, you're not in the right place to be teasing me right now!" That whiny voice is always satisfying when he’s annoyed.  
  
"I know, but you're best friends with Jaehee and you're our official matchmaker so you'll still help anyway." I try to stifle a laugh. "Talk to me later about her, okay?"  
  
"What are you talking about--  
How did you even know--  
Aaaah whatever! We'll talk later! I'm hanging up!" He's half-shouting and half-whispering now.  
  
"Yes my dear dongsaeng, enjoy the date~" I think Wonpil would've slammed the phone receiver if his iPhone had one.

Minutes after, he sends the promised screenshots, and around an hour later, we're on video call.  
  
"So let me get this straight Piri: Park Jaehyung and Jaehee had a great elaborate date and he quote accidentally unquote confessed to her? How is such a thing supposed to be candid?" I’m back at my hotel room now, while Wonpil seems to be in sitting a staircase in the fire exit.

"Dowoon didn't go into too much the details of that one. I guess he's still loyal to his sunbae-roommate. But I bet Jaehee made him somehow snap." He nods sagely to himself, and I wonder what that means. "Anyway, that's hardly your problem hyung. Jae can and will fend for himself. But you might miss your chance because of this. She's super hard headed when it comes to avoiding people. So if I were you, I’ll let Jaehee be for now. She'll resurface in a few days, and maybe you can try again then?" He pauses, and is clearly watching me carefully through the screen. "But the look in your face tells me that you have a plan, hyung? Your forehead is all scrunched up."

“Sort of. I only got two weeks left here. And this so-called rival is making strides, too." Wonpil makes a gummy smile, and while that most likely means that he's giddy, I take that as the best friend's approval of whatever my plans are. “What time is it? I gotta go and run some errands, Piri-yah. Then I’ll pack and check-out of here tomorrow. Thanks for the information. Wish me luck. See ya.”

I spend the rest of the afternoon on an Animate run, and buy a few more things here and there. I hope all of these works.

  
The next day, I check-out after an early breakfast and drag my enormous suitcase and grit through lugging my backpack as I walk towards my new hostel. After settling down, I commence the plan. I grab the hotel's writing pad, put some words into paper, and after a few scratched drafts, settle for a simple note.

After walking to the nearest convenience store, I buy what resembles the most proper meal in here. Making my way through the neighborhood is easier now that I've been here a few times. Standing in front of her door, I check Wonpil's message to make sure that I have the right apartment number. I arrange the convenience store food on a breakfast-on-bed tray I bought from a Don Quixote store in Ikebukuro, slip the note under her door, knock, and step away as slowly as I could.  
  
It takes a while before I hear the door open - I'm almost the staircase - and hear her call my name, “Younghyun-ssi?” I turn around and gesture at the food tray. “It’s just 10 AM, but that’s your lunch. Wonpil told me that you tend to skip meals when you go off grid." I watch as she looks down, see the lunch I brought, smiles appreciatively and says, "Thank you for this, Younghyun."  
  
I smile back and we hold that moment for a few seconds, I think. She breaks the eye contact and picks-up the tray, mouths a thank you, and turns around. Before she closes the door, I call for her, "Jaehee." She turns her head towards me, and tilts her head in response. "Read the note, and text me your reply, okay?”She nods and I watch as she gets back in and close the door. I hope this works.   

> Note: I moved my lodging in this neighborhood, so I can be your personal delivery guy. Your wish is my command. ;)

I am back at the convenience store and stuffing myself with the same food I brought her when she replies an hour later. 

> JaeheeLee: Thank you for lunch, Younghyun. ^_^  
>  JaeheeLee: Btw, you’re a genie now?  
>  younghyunK: I only do deliveries, ma’am. ;)  
>  JaeheeLee: Deliver some distraction, would you?  
>  younghyunK: This is a request for when exactly?  
>  JaeheeLee: Whenever you’re free. :)  
>  younghyunK: One dashing distraction coming right up! ;)

I excitedly walk back to my accommodation and take a bath. Hurriedly sifting through my Animate haul, I try to remember the common things that we liked, and packed almost every bluray I bought. I appear at her doorstep at 1 PM, greeting her with a, “I brought my ramyeon stash with me, and anime blurays to watch. Please tell me you have a DVD player?”  
  
"Good afternoon, Mr. Dashing Distraction." She laughs a bit and I smile in response, raising the bags in my hands up to my waist. She takes the one in my right hand and our hands briefly touch. "Come on in." I walk behind her as she replies to my first query. "My laptop has one, and then we'll just use my mini-projector."

Sitting in her small couch which can accommodate two, I watch as she peruse through the loot I brought. She’s on the floor, with her back facing the empty space of the couch she could be sitting on. Leaning close, I whisper to her ear in a low voice, “Jaehee-yah.” She instinctively turns toward my voice and our faces are inches apart but then she also instantly moves away. I slowly return to leaning back on the couch and watch as she takes a deep breath, look at me (as if making sure that I’m not too close), and resume her sitting position. “Do you need anything?” she inquires.  
  
I have a pursed amused smile plastered on my face as I shake my head. She squints her eyes at me, which makes me remember why I called for her in the first place. “Ah, I remember now. Sit here?” I nod my head towards the seat beside me. “It must be uncomfortable down there.”  
  
Jaehee blinks her eyes several times again, and then looks from me to the blank space I was referring to. She finally turns back to sifting through the bags, and says, “I’m fine down here, thank you Younghyun.”

After a while, she raises a bunch of DVD cases in triumph. “You bought Makoto Shinkai films! I haven’t seen them in ages! Can we start with Kimi no Nawa?” Jaehee’s smiling so brightly, it’s infectious.

“You have great taste, Jaehee. I’ve seen these films before too, but I bought it because I wanted to rewatch them. Today’s a perfect day for it. Besides, your wish is my command, remember?” I wink at her and watch as she stares back at me, blinking fast in between. I think that instead of blushing, blinking too much is her sign of being flustered, which is cute as hell.

The movie begins and the opening sequence plays when she suddenly presses pause, and turns to me. Jaehee meets my eyes who's already staring at her, and she looks taken aback for a second before making a soft, pursed smile that reaches her eyes and says, "Thank you again for this, Younghyun."  
  
She watches as I lean forward a bit, which makes her abruptly turn around and press play. I smirk to myself as I lean low onto my thighs to match her head's height, and then stretch out my left hand to pat her head. This makes her turn again, our faces inches apart again, though a bit farther than a few minutes ago. She's surprised at the proximity but seems to be searching my eyes for something. "You're always welcome, Jaehee-yah." And then I lean back on the couch, watching as she makes a combination of a smirk, a shake of the head, and a raised eyebrow before turning towards the movie again.  
  
From where I'm seated, I can see the side of her face if I lean forward a bit. I'm a fan of Shinkai's films as much as she is, but I think I prefer watching her this time. Jaehee is all sorts of amusing, as she always is. She reacts a lot when she watches, and mutters comments under her breath. Hits the floor, her thighs, or my legs when too excited. Clutches at her clothes, sometimes the hem of my jeans, claps at the amazing details, and swoons at the great animation and the gorgeous music.  
  
Halfway through the movie, she begins to put some of the snacks I brought to the empty seat beside me. I then purposely-noisily remove them from the couch and put them to the small table to my right. This catches her attention, which makes her pause the film and look back at me with this cute, annoyed expression. "You know that this seat is made for people, not for junk food, to sit on, right?" She ignores me with an eyeroll and returns to watching.  
  
After a few heartbeats, I open a snack and slide down to the floor. We both have our legs crossed, our knees touching. Jaehee makes no reaction, except that she seems to have gotten stiff. I offer her the chips, and say, "I'm not sitting up there if you aren't." I feel her relax and soon, she's engrossed with the film again, as I am with her.  
  
When the credits finally rolled, I excuse myself to go the restroom. When I come out, she's replaying the final sequence. I secretly take a snap of this moment, of her doing something she clearly has immense interest it. I'll keep this one for myself.

 

**Lee Jaehee**

The rain sequence during the Kimi no Nawa’s end made her want to watch Garden of Words next. Our seats are now somewhat reset, I’m sitting on the couch’s left side while he remained sitting on the floor. His shoulders and arms and my legs are touching, and I let these little intimacies be, for some reason I’ll just figure out later. I also belatedly realize how distracting this new arrangement is, because of two things. First, his side profile is hella good looking. Second, he keeps on looking back at me and pretending not to notice it is proving to be very difficult. We’re watching a beautiful animated film and yet this man keeps on snatching my concentration. Finally, I decide to do something about this.  
  
“Hey Younghyun. Sit here beside me, it’s more comfortable up here.” He turns to me and makes a confused face, then smiles. “I’m pretty sure it’s comfy sitting beside you, but are you sure?” I nod, and he stands up. We were a snug fit on my little couch, and after a few awkward seconds, I slide down to the floor, look back up at him and shrug my shoulders. He scrunches his nose at me and then smiles. I return to watching the film, and was interrupted when I hear him shuffling and a heartbeat later, is seated beside me on the floor. I squint my eyes at him and he shrugs in response.  
  
“So this is the annoying Younghyun that I’ve been hearing so much about, huh?” He further exaggeratedly shrugs, his face in a very annoying smug smile.  
  
I stand to sit back on the couch, and he follows suit. “Jaehee-yah, no backsies on that yes, I’m sitting beside you, okay?” I look at him incredulously for a good five seconds, and when he responds with his eyebrows bobbing up and down, I just laugh in defeat. I once again drop myself to sit on the floor, and he flops beside me, again.

I roll me eyes and look at him, trying to make an angry face even though I’m stifling a laugh.

“Jaehee-yah,” he calls, and then lifts his two fists playfully, “I can do this all day.”  
  
I widen my eyes at him. “Yah! You don’t spring a Captain America line on me like that!”

“Did you say ‘Yah’?!”

“Yes, I did!” I return to sitting on the couch, wait for him to follow, and then I slide down to the floor again. Before he gets up, I shout at him, “Stay seated, Younghyun!”  
  
He’s grinning when he sits to my right, and then faces his whole body to me. “No.”  
  
“Ugh.”

We do this a few more times and finally settle on me sitting beside him on the sofa, me glaring at Younghyun and him smiling smugly at me. “Sometimes I just wanna punch you in your perfect teeth,” I tell him. But then I break character and we both burst into laughter.

 

**Kang Younghyun**

After the seating arrangement fiasco, Jaehee and I are comfortably seated on the couch. We’re leaning away from each other, but it does little to ease the proximity. We restart watching the Garden of Words, and soon, she’s once again absorbed by the film. This time, I try to watch the film more and her less, without much success.  
  
After the movie was done, she stands up to stretch out her arms. Then, she looks at me. “Younghyun, you want to walk outside? Spring’s almost here. But the plum blossoms in the small Setagaya Park nearby are still in bloom, I guess. Have you seen them before?” I shake my head in response. She asks me again, “Let’s go?” And I nod.

 

As we exit her apartment complex's gate, Jaehee fetches her phone from her coat pocket, and I see that it’s from Jae before looking away. I watch her expression instead, and she just briefly smiles. She then brings the phone to her ears, “Hey Sungjin, let’s do a hanami one of these days, let me know when you guys are free, okay?" She pauses as the man on the other lines talks. "Thank you.” Jaehee then looks back at the apartment and smirks to herself.  
  
She turns to me and says, “you’re invited too, okay?”  
  
I cock an eyebrow, “a hanami?”  
  
“It’s a sort of picnic under the sakura trees.”

“Oh okay, count me in, then, whenever it is.”

 It was a short walk to the park, and all throughout I was contemplating on whether it’s too early to hold Jaehee’s hand. 

We walk through the pathways that encircle the park. Jaehee pauses every now and then to take macro photos of the flowers, and I try to take as many photos of her. She even smiles for the camera. “You’re lousy at this,” she teases, and then tries to teach me better angles, some basic framing, rule of thirds.  
  
After a while, she checks another batch of photos that I take, and after commenting on why it’s mostly just her when the scenery is infinitely prettier, she muses, “You’re a fast learner, aren’t you?” I shrug, and then add, “My subject makes me want to be better at this, so I deliver.”

Jaehee informs me that she’ll cook me dinner to repay for the dashing distraction. We walk back to her apartment, and I once again muster the courage to ask her out.

“Hey Jaehee?”

“Hm?”

“The garden in the Garden of Words is in Tokyo, right?”

Her face lights up, and she nods excitedly. “Yes! You want to go there?”

I inevitably smile as well, and finally ask, “Will you come with me?”

“Sure!” She’s agreeing to this too easily, but it’s probably just the effect of watching the film.

“Tomorrow?”

“I’m free, so sure!”

I can’t help but make a tiny gesture of pumping my fist, which catches her attention. Jaehee’s facial expression transitions from confusion to understanding, audibly saying, “oh” at the end. She adds, “A date?”

“Is it okay if it’s a date?” I carefully check her expression, because I don’t want to just pressure her. But then she smiles to herself, inhales and exhales deeply, and says, “Okay.”

 

Upon arriving back at her apartment, she walks to refrigerator to inspect her stock. “You said you have ramen, right? I can make kimchi fried rice real quick, I still have a few side dishes….”

“I can totally just go out, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“Sit down, mister, I’m not letting you go home on an empty stomach.”

“Ohhh, you don’t want me to go home?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“That’s what I’m hearing~” She rolls her eyes. “I’m kidding, I’ll wait for dinner, Jaehee.”

I’m observing her from the sofa, and decide to ask her, “So, was the distraction effective?”

“Younghyun-ssi, if you bring it up like that, the effect wears off, you know. But if you must know, it was. Thank you, really.”

I stand up and start stepping towards the kitchen and ask her, “Do you need help?”

“Nah, just sit pretty there.” She points at the sofa, and I raise my hands in surrender. “If you insist. I’ll just work a bit here.”

“I thought you’re on vacation?”

“I’ll just take a peak at my emails, I won’t answer anything that’s not urgent.”

The sound of her cooking and the music playing from the laptop (a  playlist mix of j-rock and k-rock) was quite comforting. I don’t actually get any work done, because I kept on raising my head from phone to watch her.  
I walk towards the dining area. “At least let me set the table?”  
  
“There isn’t much to set, though. I’m almost done, take a seat.”

I watch her set the table, and every time she looks at me, I smile at her and she just furrow her brows in reply.

“Are you sure spending your day watching animated films is something you should be doing in Japan, of all places?”  
“Well, I’m spending time with you, so it’s fine.” I see her pause in the middle of stir-frying the kimchi rice. She clears her throat, and changes topic. “Didn’t you get the email I sent you? I attached the customized itinerary there.”  
“Yeah, I got it, that’s why I’m here.”  
“I don’t understand what you mean, but thank you, really.”  
  
We eat dinner and comfortably converse the whole time, and after strongly insisting that I wash the dishes, Jaehee relents. She cleans up the living room while I do the dishes. I sneak a peek at her and can’t help but feel that this is too domestic for a second date, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

I tease her one last time after saying goodbye. “Jaehee-yah, see you tomorrow, it’s a date, okay?” I wink at her and walk backwards, watching as she nods at waves me off. I hear her door close as I step down the stairs.

  
I am back at my lodging just a few minutes later. As if he knew I was home and can be disturbed now, Wonpil’s caller id appears on my phone screen. I click on the video call and he bursts into an inaudible whine, and then says, “Hyuuuuung, Jaehee still hasn’t talked to me, I’m getting worried.” Wonpil’s making an exaggerated crying face, without the tears.

“She’s fine, Piri-yah,” I reply as casually as I could.

“Yah! How do you know that???” He scrutinizes my face, then shouts, “WAIT. YOU.” He claps and grins like an idiot and I end the call.

Like I’m any different, I’ve been smiling like an idiot for a while now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry the update is taking too long, please bear with me for a while 😅


	10. Feeling Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I obviously don’t know how kakao talk works, but I’m having fun with the chat nicknames. So I guess just imagine a random messaging app for texts, etc. Also, yes, it took me a month to update this, thank you for waiting. Life finally caught me and I had to oblige her. Enjoy this chapter, y’all.

**10\. Feeling Good**  
_Wherever we go, I don't care_  
_I just need you to be there_  
_Whatever we do, I don't care_  
_I'm just carelessly enjoying  
_ _A once-in-a-while night_

 

**Park Sungjin**

It was Sunday when Jae confessed to Jaehee, and it’s now Tuesday. No one saw Jaehee since then, even if she’s just a few doors away.

Jae, who drank much more than he could handle, woke up by noon on Monday, and is nursing a severe hangover. Dowoon had the foresight to cook him porridge, and Jae’s little smile of gratitude was the only one he gave out the whole afternoon. After being forced to eat more than he wanted to (I sat in front him and sternly told him that he’s not getting up from the chair until he finishes the bowl of porridge that the maknae prepared for his sorry ass), he proceeded to loiter by the balcony, either staring at his phone, at his laptop, or at the street below.

We ate dinner in an unusual silence. That is, until Jae broke it. “Any news on Jaehee?”

Dowoon and I looked at each other, concern drawn in both of our faces.

“I’m fine guys, I’ve already had my fill of wallowing in negative feelings and whatnot," Jae answered. "It’s not as if Jaehee has rejected me already. And I am never drinking myself to oblivion again, not a fan of hangovers and feeling like shit.”

I couldn't help but smile, and apparently so does Dowoon. I tapped his shoulder and simply said, “Welcome back, Jae. I have no news to offer, though. I didn’t even see her run this morning."

“She did run _away_ though.” Jae chuckles, amused at his own self-deprecating humor of sorts.

Dowoon fiddled with his phone and handed it to Jae. “You know Wonpil, Jaehee’s best friend?” Jae nodded, and I shook my head. I’ve heard his name but haven’t really gotten any reason to interact with him. Dowoon inclined his head towards Jae’s hands and said, “We exchanged updates regarding noona. She’s gone off the grid and is probably just cooped up in her apartment.”

Jae scanned Dowoon’s phone, and smirks. “You’re quite a loyal friend, Dowoon-ah. Spilled just enough information.”

“I’m not sure what you take me for, hyung, but I’m definitely rooting for you, okay?” Dowoon takes his phone back and cleans up the table. Jae and I just shrugged at each other.

 

On Tuesday, the apartment was filled with the sound of Jae’s guitar throughout the afternoon. Dowoon was on his phone more than his computer for some reason, taking shelter in my room because, to quote him, “Sungjin-hyung, I like you better so let me stay here for a while, okay?” I don’t understand this kid sometimes.

Jae was in his room when Dowoon called for him. The latter had already moved his base to the balcony. I get there later than Jae, and I see him heave a deep sigh before he got out his phone, typing away.

A few moments later, _my_ phone rings. “It’s Jaehee. Stay calm, Yoon Dowoon and do not say a word,” I warn him. The maknae gestures to zip his mouth, making Jae laugh a little.

I answer her call. “A hanami? Sure, I’ll discuss it with Jae and Dowoon and let you know. But we’re mostly free until,” I broke off a bit, and vocalize what Jae was mouthing. “Until practically forever.” I end the call, and Dowoon and Jae simultaneously ducks as Jaehee turns her head towards our apartment building. They both reach for my arms and drag me down. I roll my eyes, “I don’t think Jaehee is naïve enough to not put it together that we saw her with Younghyun, what with Jae apparently sending her a text. Anyway, Park Jaehyung, if you’re done moping around, please do the laundry, it’s your turn.”

Dowoon, the ever lovable person that he is, quips, “Wow, hyung managed to slide in a point about household chores, you’re amazing.” Of course that earned a smack to the back of his head. This time, Jae laughs a bit more loudly.

 

**Kang Younghyun**

I wake up earlier than my alarm, despite losing some sleep to Wonpil nagging me into giving details of what he has dubbed as “YoungHee’s Domestic Nerd Date.” I spare as much information as possible, wanting to keep most of yesterday’s peaceful day to myself. Given that Wonpil would be adamant in getting all the information he wanted, I decided to spend half the time teasing him about his non-romantic lunch date the other day. After successfully increasing Wonpil’s flusteredness, he finally put down the phone and ended the call. Suddenly, he was sleepy. I can almost hear him blushing on the other end.

It’s just about 7 in the morning, an entire six hours away from my supposed meeting time with Jaehee. Once again, I test my luck, this time in an attempt to lengthen my time with her today. 

 

> younghyunK: Good morning, Jaehee-yah, are you awake?
> 
> jaeheelee: A fine Wednesday morning to you too, Younghyun. I’m actually surprised that you’re awake this early.
> 
> younghyunK: I’m having a date with this pretty girl later, my excitement got the better of me.
> 
> younghyunK: hello?
> 
> younghyunK: hi?
> 
> younghyunK: jaeheeeeee?
> 
> younghyunK: jaehee-yaaaaaaa?
> 
> younghyunK: are you still there?
> 
> younghyunK: please don’t cancel our date hahahaha :(
> 
> jaeheelee: Hi, sorry, I just got home from my run. No worries, I’ll see you later. :)
> 
> younghyunK: Hey. Did you have breakfast yet?
> 
> jaeheelee: Not yet. Will wash off the sweat and then maybe cook my breakfast or something.
> 
> younghyunK: Don’t cook, I’ll bring food over. See you in an hour?
> 
> jaeheelee: Okay. :)  
> 

My new lodging serves bento for breakfast, and my room is for two. Thus, I order for two breakfast sets, which I can apparently ask to be packed for to-go, since some tourists often request this arrangement. I’d normally eat both, but sharing a table with her first thing in the morning is infinitely more appealing.

Jaehee is dressed in an oversized pink hoodie and white sweatpants when she lets me in an hour later. “I didn’t imagine you to be a very punctual person, Younghyun,” she greets, as we walk towards the dining table. I hum in response, while I unpack the two bento boxes and settle in a chair.           

We are seated in front of each other, and while she takes an eyeful of the food, I finally reply. “I told you, I have an important appointment with a pretty lady today, so I’m trying to be the perfect gentleman for her.” She smirks and raises an eyebrow, her eyes never leaving the box, poking her chopstick at the eggroll. She finally raises her head, her eyes on mine. “Lucky you, then, I guess.” She then lifts her utensil and starts eating, breaking the eye contact to focus on choosing what to taste next. She’s pursing her lips, as if to stop a smile even if it had reached her eyes already.

“You’re supposed to thank me for the compliment,” I say, and then her name in a sing-song, “Jaehee-yah.” She playfully scoffs, and says, “Eat your breakfast already, Younghyun-ah,” as she shoves a small portion of rice into my agape, caught off-guard mouth. I chew fast and immediately reply, “Yes, ma’am.”

We proceeded to eat in comfortable silence for the next few minutes, savoring the fairly delicious breakfast and each other’s company. We both commend the food, and I explain to her how I got it. “I kind of feel bad that you didn’t get to eat two servings of this. Thank you for the sacrifice, Younghyun-ssi,” she replies, batting her eyelashes in sarcasm. I scrunch my nose at her in response and say, matching her tone with a petty, childish one, “You’re welcome, Jaehee-yah.” We both laugh briefly at the silliness of the conversation, and Jaehee reverts to a soft smile. “But really, thank you, Younghyun,” she almost whispers, and we continue eating.

 

“So,” I restart the conversation, while I wait for her to finish her food. “Have you talked to Wonpil yet? He’s worried about you.” Jaehee winces at hearing her best friend’s name, obviously guilty at ignoring him too. She shakes her head as she puts down her chopsticks. “Aside from Jae’s text and that phone call to Sungjin yesterday, you’re the only person I’ve talked to since Sunday. I’ll talk to Wonpil later today, he has work anyway, so he can wait.”

Intrigued at so many points of her answer, I decide to focus on one. “Is it because I’m a stranger?”

“What do you mean?” She seems to be confused at the direction I’m taking.

“Is it because I’m a stranger that you let me intrude in your bubble?”

She ponders for a bit, and finally says, “Well, we’re not exactly friends?”

If that’s a good answer, I’m not entirely sure, so I prod further. “Are we now?”

She shrugs, and stands up to take the dishes to the sink. “Yeah, I guess?”

“You're not sure? I'm hurt.” I put my hand over my heart, and exaggeratedly pout.

Leaning on the counter, she squints her eyes at me, and then chuckles. “Friends, then.”

Somehow, she has both answered and evaded the question. If this is how she needs our relationship to progress, I have no complaints.

 

**Lee Jaehee**

Kang Younghyun is once again in my apartment, dressed impeccably nice, which is definitely an understatement. His ensemble of white turtle neck and black jeans (his black overcoat now hangs by the door) is punctuated by his bespectacled, hair-pushed-back, handsome face. He said that he’ll bring breakfast in an hour, and after trying to find an outfit, all I managed to put on are the most comfortable pair clothes that I have, deciding to just change later.

While I clean up after our breakfast, Younghyun sits on the sofa, sifting through my digital collection of films. I walk towards the living area, and he turns his head up to me, patting the space beside him, inviting me to sit. I raise him an eyebrow as I plop down to his right. He then looks at me, all excited. “We’re supposed to meet at 1 o’clock, so we have time. Let’s watch Infinity War?” It’s just about 9 in the morning, we still have time. So I press play in response.

“I definitely knew by heart about everything that should transpire, but this still makes me sad.” The credits roll and I am an emotional wreck, and Younghyun is just looking at me, amused. “Can I wallow in my feelings for the rest of the day?”

He sits up straight and faces me, disappointment unconcealed in his expression. “Are you cancelling our date?”

“Well, you are free to stay and we can binge watch some more films?” Younghyun smirks at this, and says, “I'm flattered that you'd love to get stuck in a room with just me, but—“   
“You are twisting my words –“  
“To my convenience, yes I know, but that made you smile so I assume you've already forgiven me for it." I pause and watch her reaction. She rolls her eyes and chuckles. I continue, “How about we table that discussion for later? Can I, instead, suggest an activity so you can get distracted for a while?”

“That’s your sole purpose since yesterday, Mr. Kang.”

“I am once again hurt but I will pretend that you didn’t say that.”

I roll my eyes at him. “So what’s this activity you’re proposing?”

"10 questions. We ask in turns and you should answer every single one, no skipping." His eyebrows dance up and down. I feel like this is a trap that I might regret falling for later on, but I ignore that and say yes. He pumps his right fist in celebration. "Just 10 questions each, right? You go first, Younghyun."

“Okay. I have a simple question. How are you, Lee Jaehee?”

I couldn’t help but sigh, because of course, Younghyun’s question wasn’t simple at all. I can always choose to answer succinctly, but I let a little bit of my true feelings show.  
“I'm confused. And then I feel that for someone who's touted how smart I am, I can't believe that I didn't see Jae's feelings. I must be as dense as a black hole." I end with a sigh of relief, because saying that out loud felt good (I really should talk to Wonpil about all these soon). I realize that I was staring at the wall in front of me, and when I turn to look at Younghyun, he just softly smiles and says, “your turn to ask, Jaehee.”

I’ve been very curious about one thing since yesterday. I hold his stare, and ask him, “Why did you suddenly turn up yesterday, even after practically driving you away?”

Younghyun turns his torso sideways to face me, places his elbow on the sofa’s back rest, and leans his head onto his palms. His facial expression changes into an amused one, eyes on mine, as he answers, “I wanted to have lunch and I wanted to see you. I figured, why not hit two birds with one stone. Also,” he pauses, and lifts a finger to push an imaginary button to unfurrow my brows. He smiles before continuing, “I missed you, that's why.”

Younghyun’s honesty is unnerving, I don’t like this game anymore. I abruptly stand up, and walk towards my room. I talk to the door, instead of facing him. “We’ll go to Shinjuku Gyoen in an hour, I’ll just change and prepare.” I may have shut the door a bit too loudly.  
  
  
**Kang Younghyun**

I probably shouldn’t tease her too much, is what I thought when she suddenly stops the game and do a costume-change. It’s the truth anyway, I counter-argue. With that conclusion, I browse instagram and twitter while I wait for her. 

Jaehee emerges from her room in a black dress donned over white long-sleeves, a pink overcoat hanging on her right arm. Her hair is down today, framing her smiling face as she asks me, “Let’s go?”

The weather today is perfect for a stroll in the park, fifteen degrees and cloudy with just the right amount of windy. Jaehee stops in front of the neighborhood’s convenience store. “Let’s buy a bunch of onigiri and other food from here and instead just have a picnic in the garden?” she suggests.

“Sure. So how about we each buy what we want and then share it later?” She nods in agreement. As we walked towards the train station, I eat two rice balls, to curb my hunger, while Jaehee drinks a medium-sized chocolate drink. We alight at Shinjuku station and walk to the garden, the travel time taking us around 45 minutes in total. Once inside Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Jaehee walks two steps ahead of me, staring at the map in her hands. “I forgot how huge this place is.”

I make huge strides and stand in front of her. “Jaehee-yah,” I say, and reach my hands to hold her wrists, putting down the map so I can see her face. “Let’s eat first? I’m starving.” I pout and she chuckles. “Ah yes, sorry. Hmm,” she looks around, “we can sit over there?” I nod, and an awkward second passes before I realize that I’m still holding both her wrists. I let go of just one and lead her to a space in the open field. We sit down, and I feel her raise her arm as she says, “Can I take my hand back, Sir?”

“Can’t you eat with just one hand?” I’m pushing my luck for some reason.

“I really can’t, Younghyun.” She’s smiling, but I take that as my cue to let go of her wrist.

“Thank you,” she mutters.

 

“Ah, that was delicious! They weren’t kidding when they said that Japan convenience store foods taste great!” I am now lying on the grass, feeling blissfully content at the delicious lunch and the atmosphere. Jaehee has returned to perusing the map. “You’re looking for the location they used in Garden of Words?” She nods. I do a quick internet search and once I found what I was looking for, I sat up straight, my shoulders lining up perfectly with hers. Jaehee seemed a bit surprised at the proximity but doesn’t move or say anything.

“It says here that it’s near the Taiwan Pavilion. We could walk towards there.” Jaehee hums, tracing a route in the map she’s holding. “Yeah, sure. I figured out how already. Since we just ate, let’s sit here for a few more minutes?” She looks at me for confirmation and I nod, and then lay back on the grass. “Younghyun-ssi, I’ll leave you here if you fall asleep, okay?”

“Talk to me, so I won’t succumb to food coma.” Jaehee chuckles at this, and she turns in her seat to take a photo of the scenery. Her right-hand profile is now my view, and I stealthily take a photo of her with a camera in hand. “Younghyun-ssi, that better be a good candid picture.” She puts down her camera and asks for my phone. I give it to her. She smiles and says, “Not bad. If only your hands are a bit more stable?”

I watch as Jaehee takes more photos, and after a while she stands up. “Let’s go?”

I reach my right hand up to her and she just looks at me and then my outstretched limb, and then pats her coat to remove the dirt and grass. “Jaehee-yah, help me up please?” Yes, I am doing aegyo and I am trying my best not to laugh at her reaction, her face contorted in half-disgust and half-amusement, mouthing a “what the?” I extend my other hand and bat my eyelashes at her, saying, “Jaehee-yah, please?” Jaehee finally breaks into a small laugh and rolls her eyes, and clasps both my hands, her arms crisscrossed over one another. She pulls me up and I’m surprised that we didn’t tumble back down. “Wow, you’re strong, Jaehee.” She shrugs, and says, “I know.” I let go of one of her hands and shake off the dirt. “Younghyun-ssi.” I look at her, “Yes?” She lifts our hands, I was still grasping hers, which is now open. “I’d like my hand back, please?” I shake my head. “You don’t need it for walking.” Jaehee once again rolls her eyes and scoffs playfully, “You don’t need it to walk either. I, on the other hand, will need it for taking photos.” I pout as I release her palm, which she uses to pat my shoulder. “Stop it with the aegyo before I barf our lunch. Let’s go.”

 

The garden is definitely a sight to behold, teeming with trees and flowers and wide spaces and walkways. In the middle of the bustling city is this hundred acres of peaceful paradise. We walk slowly, and for the first time since I got here, I felt like a tourist, admiring every bit of beauty this place had to offer.

Jaehee is also off in her own world, taking photos and looking at the map every now and then. When we arrive at the pavilion, I pull up screen shots from “Garden of Words.” I exclaim at how the movie had perfectly – ethereally, even – animated the landscape in front of me.

Jaehee leans on the ledge beside me, “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” It’s cliché and all that, but I suddenly understand where the romance writers get it from. I slightly turn my head look at her and I almost say that she’s more beautiful, but I keep it to myself. We instead talk about the art of Makoto Shinkai, and how Jaehee went here on a rainy day just to have the full experience. We walk down and arrive at the famous open cottage featured in the film. “Hey,” I tell her, and she has a glint in her eyes as well, “let’s remake that shot of Yukino and Takao here?” She nods excitedly, and produces a tripod from her backpack. As she settles the camera and looks at the movie’s shot, she makes me sit on the bench.

“I was wondering why you have such a large backpack,” I comment.

“I’m practically a girl scout,” she replies.

After we take a lot of photos, Jaehee collects her equipments and sits on the female leading lady’s spot on the bench. I open my bag and remove two cans of beer and several chocolate bars, putting it beside me. “Jaehee-yah,” I call for her. She raises her head from her bag and claps in surprise. “I love the dedication, Younghyun! And I thought you had such a large backpack because you bought more than one bento box from the convenience store.” She laughs, and I hand her an opened beer. “Might as well go all-out and be the characters in the movie we both adore, right?”

Since it was a weekday, there were a few people in the garden, and we had the cottage to ourselves. We pick up from where we left off with the 10 Questions game we had this morning, but Jaehee had a condition set. “This time, no hard-hitting questions. Just “getting to know you” questions that you want to know.”

We walked through the rest of the park, well, as much as our feet let us. It was a huge ass garden, and it closes at 4 PM. Jaehee and I ask and answer more than ten questions, our conversation becoming more and more natural as the time went by. At one point, she packs her camera into her bag. “It’s also important to enjoy the surroundings through your own eyes.”

By 4 PM, we leave through the gates, where my surprise awaits. I see him first, and when he sees us, he practically runs into an astonished Jaehee, taking her in for a hug.

“Kim Wonpil, what are you doing here!” Despite her tone, she’s smiling widely, and hugs him as tightly as my brother does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden photos:  
> https://twitter.com/joeycholeekang/status/1138043894203944960?s=20


	11. Pouring

**11\. Pouring**  
_Like the stars_  
_Twinkling in the night sky_  
_You are pouring out over me_  
_I'm falling for you_  

**Kang Younghyun**

As with most long-term relationships, my seven year old high-school-sweethearts narrative slowly lost its flame as it gained time. I became too complacent and made less and less effort, and I mistook the plainness of our conversations and interactions for comfort. All the while she grew slowly yet increasingly dissatisfied. And I chose not to make promises to make it better, a flimsy excuse to prevent her heart from breaking further even though that was what exactly I was doing.

When she got a job abroad, no amount of long-distance communication saved her from falling for someone else. She broke up with me before getting officially together with him, but I more or less understood what had happened.

My subsequent promotion was a welcome excuse to bury myself in work; and it helped immensely in the process of my moving on. That was how I started my 2015.

Around mid-year, Wonpil's best friend, Lee Jaehee, began to frequent our home. When she wasn’t travelling for work, she spent most Saturday afternoons with my brother.

A few months later, our mom eventually asked Wonpil what the deal was between him and Jaehee. He explained with clenched jaw, "Jaehee's now free from the shackles of her dragging relationship with that coward pretending to be a human being, so she has more time for her best friend now." It was one of the few times that I saw my brother get angry, even if he was sporting a calm demeanor. And before my mother further inquired, Wonpil added, "And yes mom, we're as platonic as the plants in our garden."

Whenever Jaehee was at home, I tended to loiter nearby. Wonpil will always be our household’s sunshine, but Jaehee radiated a glow that diminished the gloom of my bitter self. The ease with which she handles herself around my loved ones, the laughters and smiles she readily offers to the world around her, and the genuine interest she gives to whoever asks for it -- all of these were endearing to watch from afar.

And that's what I intended to do, because I was harboring a small, innocent crush on my brother's best friend at the worst possible time for the both Jaehee and I. Thus, we never really talked, just exchanged pleasantries here and there. It was enough to bask in her presence, to watch their friendship from afar, at least for the time being.

Just when she started becoming a pleasant weekend habit, she stopped visiting in mid-October. Wonpil said that her work’s organizing an international conference, so she’s booked until early December.

My mother insisted on a small gathering for my birthday that year, in which close family friends were also invited, including Jaehee. That afternoon, I heard Wonpil on the phone, practically screaming at whoever was on the other end, "Lee Jaehee, I am glad that you're going out on a date, but why did it have to be today?" A pause, and he nods as a grin escapes him. "Fine, you have to tell me everything tomorrow, okay? Text me updates."

When the guests left after dinner, Wonpil and I walked around the neighborhood, as we often do. Jaehee lived just a few blocks away from our home, and once we rounded onto her street, we saw a car in front of her gate.  A tall man that's around a few years older than her came out of the driver's seat and opened the passenger side's door, revealing a Jaehee in a coat that's too large for her, which she took off to return to who seems to be her date.

At that moment, I remembered feeling Wonpil's eyes on me, and thinking about how it's been a year for me and only half a year for her, and yet she didn't let the concept of time stop her from venturing out into the world. Time waits for no one, as that one animated film had purported.

Holiday gifts were then exchanged, and I received a greeting message from Jaehee as I often do.

She doesn't visit until February the next year. 

I was at the front porch when she rang the doorbell, so I opened it for her. "Long time no see, Jaehee. Busy with your boyfriend?" It was the first thing I said to her in 2016.

She responded with a furrowed eyebrow, and said, "I have a what?" Turning to Wonpil, she glared, "Yah, Kim Wonpil what rumor did you tell your hyung?" To me, she clarifies, "I won't be here on a weekend commercializing the celebration of romance if I have someone to spend it with. I bought ice cream, by the way."

For the next several weekends, her presence became a weekly thing once more. It became a habit that I loiter by the garden, either playing with the dog or just lounging by the terrace, so that I am the first one to greet her at the gate every single time.

One weeknight in May, while Wonpil and I were binge-watching an anime series, he suddenly blurted out how many interests I have in common with Jaehee. I was curious at the sudden commentary, but I didn't push for details.

The rest of the year was a status quo. Jaehee traveled for work and for leisure, often with Wonpil and other friends in tow. I was absorbed with work and my interests and hobbies, genuinely enjoying being single.

All the while, Wonpil transitioned from simply chiding, to heavily implying, to plainly stating that Jaehee and I are a perfect match. He even came up with a ship name, YoungHee. My goodness.

When December rolled around again, Wonpil was a frustrated cupid. One night, we were drinking at home after dinner when I asked, as casually as I could, about Jaehee. Wonpil, quite inebriated, rolled his eyes, and replied a speech instead: "Hyung, if you like Jaehee, make a fucking move. It's always been her who texts you first when there's an occasion, and you never prolong the conversation. And yet you act differently around her when she's here, even staring at her too much."

It is important to reiterate that I never admitted anything to Wonpil, but it did make sense that he somehow knew.

 _Was I that obvious?_ was probably written on my face, because he continued, answering my thought, "Oh of course I see that, I'm not blind. My point is: Hyung, either you don't seem to have learned your lesson or you're not yet ready. Make an effort!"

It's not as if I was not aware that Jaehee was making an effort to be friends, that she initiated the contact a handful of times and all I had to do was reciprocate it. But I've always chalked it up to being just not ready to date again. So perhaps Wonpil was right, I haven't learned my lesson simply because I have no motivation to prove it wrong. I was also content with silently nursing my budding crush on her.

2017 was hectic for both of us. I got promoted again and sometimes was even working weekends. Jaehee was busy with her applications to international graduate schools and scholarship programs. It was hard to see her without making conscious effort, which I didn't make.

"I got in! I'm going to live and study in Japan for two years, all expense paid!" Jaehee breaks the news to Wonpil one spring weekend, in our living room. My mom overheard and they were hugging. Wonpil made a subtle gesture for me to join in. Jaehee was so elated, she hugged me as well when I congratulated her. "When are you leaving?" was all I could ask.

Jaehee left for Tokyo in August 2017. It was too familiar, being left behind. And where I got the audacity to be sad when I never made a proper move, I didn't know the answer to that.

It took me four years of forgiving myself, of moving on, of re-learning to take chances, of rediscovering the motivation to make an effort for someone else other than myself, and of finding courage to take that first step.

And now, I'm looking at her, gripped to a bear hug by my younger brother. Despite the literal and figurative long journey it took, I have fervently hoped that I was not too late. My back-up has arrived in Tokyo, albeit foremost for a vacation.

 

**Yoon Dowoon**

I've known Jaehyung-hyung for years since our undergraduate days, but he's only been my roommate for six months. I've seen his bordering-on-insominiac habits, his artistic genius, his perseverance at some of the oddest things, his quiet and deep interior masked by a bubbly personality. Hyung is a nice guy, he is a catch, and I firmly believe that he and Jaehee noona are a match.

Since Tuesday afternoon when we saw Jaehee going out with Younghyun, I've been stalking people on social media. Everyone around Jaehee that I know, to be precise.

Apparently all I needed was tune in to Wonpil's very detailed Instagram stories. He's on his way here, to Tokyo, today. His latest update was a video, detailing how he's probably gonna get lost on his way to surprise his best friend, even soliciting advice on how to get on the location.

With all these information, the last thing to do is to drag the hyungs out of the house. "We've been cooped in this apartment for days, did we all get rejected by girls we like?" I announce.

They both stare at me first, before reacting accordingly. Jaehyung-hyung laughs. Sungjin-hyung just sighs as he rolls his eyes, and says, "Just get to the point, dear maknae."

The elder responds in my stead, "Let's go out for fresh air, and maybe get some dinner, is what Dowoon's trying to say."

"Right. And I have a very~ specific place in mind. So get off your asses and look presentable, okay? Let's go."

We arrive at the garden in Shinjuku just in time. Across the street, I spot the three people I'm looking for, and when Sungjin traces my sight and it lands on them, he just pats me at the back, scoffing. "I can't believe you, Yoon Dowoon." He turns to Jae and puts an arm around him. The latter looks up from his phone, and finally sees them too. "Jae, it's your time to shine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this made sense and you didn't get too bored huhu :( I wanted to write a chapter of 2015 to 2017 from Younghyun's POV, so here it is. The next chapter will be fun, I'll try to write it when I have the time.
> 
> If you have any questions or comments, my cc and twitter's open. 😊


	12. Pandora

**12\. Pandora**

_Even when you are with me now_  
_You are looking somewhere else_  
_Even when I say "I love you"_  
_You just respond with a laugh_

 

**Kim Wonpil**

"Be at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden by 4 PM, okay? Meet us at the Shinjuku Entrance. Use google maps, you're an adult you can do it. Good luck!"

That was everything my precious brother told me this morning. He sounded fairly excited for his excursion with Jaehee, even if it meant leaving me to fend for my own as I travel to a foreign country and check-in to our hotel and figure out how to go to their date spot. I somehow make it, right on time. Japan has a very efficient transport system.

"What are you doing here!" Jaehee asks as I embrace her tightly. She lets go first, her arms now limping by her sides as I still hug her, swinging the both of us left and right, left and right. "I missed you so much, Jaehee-yah," I whisper before letting her go.

Jaehee takes a step back, her hands on my waist. I watch her eyes scan me from my head to my outfit, to my shoes, and she finally says, “You look good, Piri-yah.”

Smiling widely, I take her right hand and lift it above her head. She immediately asks, “what do you want me to do?” I twist her hand a bit and she finally understands, and twirls around slowly. She smiles smugly at first and instantly regrets it, taking back her hand and covering her face. “I can’t believe I let you do that to me in public.” I chuckle a bit and hold down her wrists before saying, “You look really pretty, Jaehee-yah. Blooming, even.”

Younghyun-hyung then paces forward and waves at me. “Hey Wonpil.”

"Hey there, Younghyun-hyung!” I embrace him, and he reciprocates it with a couple of pats to my back. I then take a step back to look at my brother and my best friend, now standing side by side. My smile grows wider and I finally spill what I’ve been meaning to ask since I got here, “So are you and Jaehee a couple yet or what?" I then giggle as my commentary earns two different reactions: hyung mouths a most probably sarcastic “wow” and shakes his head, while Jaehee widens her eyes and then gives a threatening smile. 

My dear brother finally responds, but does not answer my query. "Hey Wonpil, I missed you too. I was hoping you'd take your time getting lost on the way here, but here you are.” Younghyun then leans down to Jaehee’s height, and she flinches a bit but meets his eyes nonetheless, even if with a raised eyebrow. He pseudo-whispers to Jaehee, loud enough for me to hear, “Sorry our date had to be interrupted by my brother, but I think the surprise was worth it.” She makes a small smile and he resumes a normal standing posture. “Thank you again, Younghyun.”

He once again whispers to her ear, but this time I can’t hear it. Jaehee exclaims once Younghyun-hyung finishes. “That many? Doesn’t today count yet? Let’s talk about this later, okay?”

A bit sad that they seemed to have forgotten about my presence already, I do a loud “ehem” to get their attention."I’d love to be part of your little secret right now, but I still have stories to tell so just dish that out later, okay?

Anyway. Jaehee-yah, can you believe that my traitor of a hyung let me figure out how to get to this spot -- On. My. Own? He was so excited for your date today that he only sent me the address of our hotel and this park."

She just laughs at my frantic storytelling but nevertheless pats my hair and says,"I'm proud of you Kim Wonpil!"

Younghyun-hyung just shrugs at me as he asks, “So Pil, did you do that thing with the plane’s window?”

Jaehee knits her eyebrows at me, and I expound. “So this hyung told me that I can open the plane’s window so that I can touch and taste the clouds.”

“And?" A smile begins to form on her lips but she puts a hand over it.

"But the windows don't open, and when I tried, the lady beside me just looked at me weird…" I pout, and then I finally understand that my hyung was messing with me. "Ah hyung!!!" I whine, "None of that was true, wasn't it?" I cross my arms and put my angry face on. The almost couple starts laughing and after a couple of seconds, I join them.

"Ah, Wonpil, I missed you," they say in unison. This makes Younghyun look at her and smile softly, while she laughs at bit more at my naivete.

From my line of vision, a group of three Korean men approaches us. They seem familiar. Too familiar.

"Jaehee noona?" One of them tentatively says as they near our reunion circle. Jaehee's eyes widen and turns around. "Dowoon? And Sungjin. And," she pauses, "hey there Jae."

Younghyun-hyung doesn't budge from his spot beside Jaehee as he also turns to face the surprise visitors. He then removes a hand from his pocket and hovers it over the small of her back. I watch him second-guess his intention and quickly replaced his hand to his pocket as Jaehee, who was facing Team Japan, stepped back to stand beside me. I drape my arms across her and grasp her shoulder, in an attempt to calm her down. Hyung follows suit, choosing to stand beside Jaehee. The both of us exchange looks as the trio settles in front of us.

My dear hyung speaks first, a half-whisper that everyone could hear. "Guess our date's really over now huh, Jaehee?" I can imagine him grimacing.

Jaehee ignores him. The one with a very deep voice comments, "Fancy meeting you here noona and Younghyun-hyung. And…?"

"Ah, yes, this is Wonpil," Jaehee says as she taps my hand that was on her shoulder, signalling that she's okay and I can drop it now. "You all know him in one way or another. My bestfriend in Korea and all that." We bow and greet each other as Jaehee introduced us.

I know who's who in Team Japan from the photos. I sometimes talk to Jae when I video-call with Jaehee and he's in the vicinity. Dowoon is a same-age friend who I game and chat with often.

It's my first time meeting Sungjin in any form. He is as charming as the photos portray. "You have such beautiful eyes," I tell him as I stare into them.

"Woah there, Wonpil." It's now Jaehee's turn to drape an arm around me. She taps my upper arm several times and says, "Sungjin, this is Wonpil. He's just a dork like this, but he sincerely meant that compliment." She removes her hand as I give her a quick apprehending glance, and I interject before she adds more insult. "I've heard great things about you, Sungjin-hyung. It's nice to finally meet the man who can get through Jaehee's thick and stubborn head."

Sungjin laughs a bit and replies, "And you're as quirky as they say."

Standing next to Sungjin is Dowoon. "Hi Don!" I was genuinely happy to finally meet him in person. He smiles back and waves, and then suddenly I understand why and how they're here at such a convenient time. "Yah, you had ulterior motives when you helped me in navigating around!" He just shrugs with pursed smile and says, "Glad to know that you arrived here safe and sound, Pil."

I look at Jae next and he's just trying and failing not to stare at Jaehee. "Hi Jae," I start, and he reluctantly shifts his attention to me. "I didn't expect to meet you here so soon. But hello!!!" He just responds, "Hey Wonpil, how was the flight?"

I've been in Tokyo for only less than 8 hours and this is the drama I come to. I bet Younghyun-hyung's glad that I'm here to back him up.

 

**Park Sungjin**

I would've preferred if we came here with a battle plan, but alas, we didn't have any. When we joined their reunion circle, the surprise in Jaehee's face was evident. Younghyun's had a semi-permanent lowly arched eyebrow during the whole exchange of greetings between us and the new guy Wonpil, Jaehee observed everyone but Jae, and Jae just can't stop looking at her.

Wonpil shares an anecdote about trying to open the plane’s window and we all laugh. Jaehee finally looks at Jae and the smile that they share seems to propel Jae to talk to her.

“Hey Jae, long time no see,” Jae says  as he lifts the bridge of his eyeglasses a bit higher.

Jaehee briefly perks up an eyebrow and releases what seems to be a bated breath. She then smirks as she responds, “Hey Jae, what are you talking about, it's only been a few days.”

Jae’s facial expression lights up. It can’t be more obvious that he’s glad that she’s responding to him. He smirks back, and says, “Jaehee-yah, I can't help it, I like you.”

A myriad of reaction flows through the group. Jaehee chokes on nothing and proceeds to coughing. Next to Jae, Dowoon audibly snickers while I couldn’t help but silently smirk. From the other side, Wonpil breaks into a smile and then suppresses his laugh with a fist, craning his neck to watch for his hyung's expression. Younghyun just stares at Jae as he visibly clenches his jaw, which was broken when Jaehee started coughing. He looks at her and lifts a hand to pat her back, and she just raises her own and tells him, “I’m fine, Younghyun.”

Seconds later, Jaehee regains composure and meets Jae’s eyes. "Okay, Jaehyung. Thank you for the information."

Jae pouts and says, "I'm not kidding though."

Her eyes widen and threatens him, "Stop that, Park Jaehyung, or else I’ll run away.”

“I’ll chase you, then.” _Is no one gonna stop this Jae train?_ is what I thought, and apparently so did Jaehee. “Oh my god Jae. What the---"

Jae laughs heartily in response. “Alright, I’ll stop.”

She rolls her eyes and asks, “Anyway, why are the three of you here?"

"Just veeery randomly walking around beautiful Tokyo," Jae answers on our behalf.

"Randomly, huh?" It was Jaehee and Younghyun, but while she said it laced with playful doubt, the latter had more venom in it.

"Yes, Jaehee-yah, randomly. No underhanded motive whatsoever.” Jae then shrugs before continuing, “It's just 4 PM, how about we do an early tour for Wonpil and Younghyun someplace nearby, and then get dinner?"

"That's a great idea, hyung," Dowoon says in support.

"What do you think, Pil?" Jaehee asks Wonpil.

"I actually have two more friends arriving tomorrow morning, and I think we're going around Tokyo. How about we have an early dinner instead?"

"They're coming too?" Jaehee says excitedly. Wonpil nods, mirroring her joyful expression. He then shifts to straight face and sternly tells her, "And I'm sleeping over at yours, Jaehee. I need to know everything, okay?" Then he smiles softly at her, patting Jaehee's head which leans on his shoulder in affirmation.

Younghyun finally speaks. "So dinner, then? Any recommendations?"

"How about ramen?" Jaehee says as she lifts her head from Wonpil's shoulder to look at Younghyun, who reacts first. "Ramen again? We just had that the other day?"

"That was Korean INSTANT ramyeon, Mr. Kang."

He smirks, and then draws a long pondering hum. He then says, "But we also had ramen last Friday? The one we had on our first date?"

Wonpil whispers, "Ah, that one." At the same time, Jaehee closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, in quick succession. When she opens then, and turns to him. "Woah, THE Kang Younghyun has a designated quota on the number of ramen one  in can consume in a week?"

"I didn’t say that --," Younghyun begins, but is interrupted by Dowoon. "Yeah, yeah, we get it you ate together a lot of times recently. Wonpil-hyung, what do you want to eat, you’re the newest tourist here."

Wonpil scratches the back of his ear and replies, "I actually would like to have ramen." The rest of the group nods in agreement, and Dowoon exclaims, "Ramen it is! We’re gonna have to fall in line for a long time, so let’s go!"

The youngest drags Younghyun by the arm, walking him away from Jaehee. He asks the flustered stranger, "Will you treat me to food, hyung?" Younghyun nods with a smile despite himself.  Dowoon  _does_ have that effect on people.

Wonpil then stands beside me and says, "Take the lead, Sungjin-hyung!" This Wonpil is looking too intensely at me, I could only reply with, "Why me?"

Dowoon, sounding exasperated, looks back at the group and says, "Let's just go, hyuuuung." He then walks towards Younghyun’s side and initiates a conversation, leading him to follow me and Wonpil. The two Jaes are left at the far end of the line.

We didn’t have any battle plan, but that was a damn good start.

 

**Park Jaehyung**

I figured that I might as well take advantage of the opportunity that Dowoon has kindly given me.

When we arrived in front of Shinjuku Gyoen, she was the first one I saw, and I feel a slight pang in my chest with the way they were standing so closely together. There's also a new guy, probably Wonpil, who spotted us first.

I stand in front of her and took her in, and realized that it's only been three days and yet I already missed her. She consciously avoided any eye contact with me, and when we finally shared that laugh, our eyes finally meet, a moment where we both understood that we're still friends. I finally got to talk to her without any awkwardness, but I didn't let her forget that conversation we had on that rooftop. She received it differently this time - in playful annoyance in attempt to hide that flustered emotion. Compared to not being taken seriously,  I'll take this reaction any day.

We all walk to the train station, three pairs in their own conversations. I purposely slow down my pace, and Jaehee glances at me as if to ask why.

"Hey Jae?" I start. She hums in response. I continue, "Remember my amazing speech at the rooftop? I told you that you didn't have to respond right away. So can we please get back to normal? We're still friends, right?"

Jaehee smiles at me, seemingly relieved. "Yes we are still friends, Jae. And sure, whatever normal means. Just give me a bit more time to process everything, okay?"

"Of course," I smile back at her, patting her head. Suddenly she trips, and I hold her hand to prevent her from falling. "Thanks, Jae," she says, laughing a bit to herself.

"Where did you even trip on, Jaehee?"

"You've known me for half a year now, you're still asking that?"

I just shrug at her, and watch her realize that I'm still holding her hand. She raises it and asks, "Mr. Park, I'm not gonna trip anymore, I'd like this back please?"

"Jaehee-yah, the universe has given me the opportunity to hold the hands of the girl I like, and you're going against it? No." I enclose my palm over hers a bit more tightly. If I could, I'm never letting her go.

"Park Jaehyung," she reprimands.

Or I guess I can bargain for more time. "Look, the train station's just ahead, let me do this until you're walking on a better surface?"

She stares at me with knitted eyebrows and exhales a small laugh. "Fine."

"I'll always be here to catch you if you fall, Jaehee." And she almost trips again, and an annoyed expression crosses her face. "See? Good thing I was holding onto you." And in response, she rolls her eyes while smiling.

We arrive at the train station with the four other guys waiting. Each of them sports a curious expression, and Jaehee catches it. She turns to me and wordlessly signals that I should unclasp our hands, and when I don't, she makes a stiff expression and I reluctantly do as she asked.

It takes us 30 minutes by train and on foot to get to the ramen place. Oddly enough, we were immediately seated and only had to wait for a few minutes in line. I sit in front of Jaehee, who had Younghyun and Wonpil on her sides. Seated across each other, Dowoon and Wonpil are engrossed in a silly conversation that I don't understand, while Sungjin and Younghyun are talking about music. Jaehee stands to take a phone call, tells me to order her usual for her. I scan the menu in silence, and asks everyone else if they're ready to order.

Jaehee comes back a few minutes later, just after we've finished ordering. All eyes were on her as she sits down. She places her phone in her bag, and when she lifts her head, she says, "The university asked me to respond regarding my flight details, since I haven't checked my email today."

"They booked it already?" I ask.

"Yeah, April 30th."

"Noona, I'm going to miss you," Dowoon announces.

"It's still a month away, Dowoon-ah, let's not think about that right now, okay?" She smiles at him, the favorite dongsaeng.

 

Our food arrives and we lapse into casual conversation, talking about the guests and ourselves. Jaehee takes care of Wonpil, almost akin to a mother. She passes him tissue and condiments as if on automatic mode, and Wonpil always has a smile of gratitude for her.

An order of mochi arrives at our table and Jaehee looks instantly happy, immediately looking at me for confirmation. "Yes Jaehee-yah, I ordered that for you. Eat up."

"Thank you, Jae, you're the best," she says, grinning at me. I watch her eat one mouthful and hums satisfyingly. She then puts a piece to Wonpil's agape mouth and they both childishly eye-smiles at each other.

It's these little things that I like about her, and more. I want her to be happy, above all else. I have a month to make it so that I'm the one beside her, always making it happen .

 


	13. Hunt

**13\. Hunt**  
_Baby don't think of going anywhere_  
_Don't think of running away_

**Kang Younghyun**

In the eight days since I arrived in Tokyo, Park Jaehyung has managed to interrupt every single date I had with Jaehee, in one way or another. And today, he’s brought an all-star team as support, while all I have is my brother who is already distracted by the enemy. I kept being dragged away from Jaehee, while Jae closes the distance that Jaehee built the past few days, all in a matter of a few minutes. This definitely says a lot about their friendship. And I refuse to call it anything else. 

We all ended up having dinner together, and it was uneventful, up until a dessert for Jaehee, courtesy of Jae, was served. She lit up in sweet tooth happiness and shared it with my brother, and then the rest of us. 

And then finally, Wonpil asked something contributory to the pairing he was supposed to play a captain for. “So how was the second date, my YoungHee ship?” 

This causes Jaehee to pause chewing and stare at Wonpil, mouth full of mochi. He just grins at her, and then turns to me for an answer. I smirk, and reply, “Well, I don't think today's just the second date. We’ve been cooped up in your apartment yesterday until this morning, should we tally that as well?” 

Wonpil hangs his mouth open, and Jaehee lifts his chin to close it. She swallows the dessert, pats her mouth with a tissue, and says, “Whatever you’re thinking Kim Wonpil, that didn’t happen.”

Jaehee then abruptly turns to me, the subtle anger in her face directed at me. “And you, Mr. Kang.” I tilt my head in response, quite aware of the annoying pursed smile I have on. She continues, “Please tell your stories properly. Yesterday and this morning are two separate occasions, no sleepovers in between. Besides, is there really a need to count, Younghyun-ssi?” 

I briefly wondered why she had to clarify it, but I maintain my confidence and let it spill. “Every moment counts when I’m with you, Jaehee,” I say with a cheesy smile, bobbing my eyebrows up and down. 

Jaehee rolls her eyes and scoffs with a smile, while I feel the rest of the table cringe. Well, except for Wonpil who I can hear giggling even if I don’t look at him. She drinks her peach iced tea, and Wonpil talks in her stead. “Besides, Jaehee, I can literally enumerate, using all of my fingers, the amount of romantic dates you've been to since you became single. As your best friend, it is my duty to keep count.”

 She puts down her glass and shifts to turn her body towards Wonpil.  "Yah, what do you mean I didn't date for the past four years? Junmyeon sunbae barely counts, that I admit. But Cho Kyuhyun, the guy who works as civil servant for the visually impaired office, was a genuinely good catch. Too bad he had to serve in the military before any spark caught fire." 

I can only see Pil’s face now, so I peek at the rest of the group. Sungjin has a small, amused smile even if he’s overly focused on finishing his ramen’s soup. Dowoon is scrolling through his phone. Jaehyung is intently and softly gazing at Jaehee, and for an instant, our eyes meet. We give each other a small nod and he returns to watching Wonpil and Jaehee bicker, and I do the same. 

Wonpil also now has his torso turned 45 degress towards Jaehee. "That one from way back in 2015? You brat, you only mentioned going out with him once! Lee Jaehee, I'm your bestfriend, I'm supposed to know everything about you!" 

 _"In 2015?”_ I thought, “ _Ah, the one she ditched my birthday for.”_  

"Kim Wonpil, we're both adults, I don't need your permission to date, okay?"

"You know that’s not what I mean, young lady. But you could have at least shared this to me! You always skimp on the juicy details! Anyway, speaking of, he's probably out now." 

"That is none of your business, my dear friend. I've proved my point, I'm not entirely a dating illiterate. Next topic!"

Dowoon raises his hands, as if asking permission to speak up. Jaehee laughs at his gesture, looking at him fondly. “Yes, Dowoon-ah?”

“According to the news, the sakura trees are blooming starting tomorrow, should we schedule the hanami you mentioned yesterday?”

“Ah yes!” Jaehee claps her hands together. "Piri-yah," Jaehee calls him as she pats a tissue onto the corner of his lips, "do you and the girls have any plans for the day after tomorrow?"

"On Friday? I don't think we have anything reserved. I actually need to talk to you about our Tokyo itineraries."

"Let's talk about the tour guiding later. You want to come with us to hanami on Friday?” 

“A hanami?"

"Literally flower watching, but it's usually a picnic. We can go to either Yoyogi park or Shinjuku Gyoen and just hang out. I'll cook food. And then we can tour some place in the afternoon.”  
  
Wonpil nods enthusiastically, punctuated by his usual gummy smile. “Sure!” 

Dowoon adds, “Sungjin-hyung and I will also bring food. Jaehee noona let's decide tomorrow on who cooks what.” Jaehee nods and takes another bite of the dessert.

Jae then speaks up, reaching across the table to pat her cheeks with a tissue, “I'll help you with the cooking preparations, Jaehee-yah.” Jaehee isn’t caught offguard like I expected her to be, and mutters, “Thank you, Jae.” 

“Jaehee-yah,” I call for her, and she turns to me. “I'll also help. I've been learning to cook for some time now.” 

“You’re not going with Piri on tour tomorrow?” she asks. 

“If your question is who I prefer between you and my brother, the answer should be obvious already. I haven’t seen you in two years, I’m making every moment count, remember?” 

Jaehee frowns at me, "You really should do your vacation properly. Watching me make a mess in the kitchen is hardly a good idea of a sabbatical." 

I hold her stare and say as seriously as I can, "Wherever you are is always the better option, Jaehee.”

 

We leave the restaurant at half past six, and decide to return home. Wonpil's sleeping over at Jaehee's and they apparently need time to catch up. I made it a point to stick to Jaehee no matter what, while Wonpil loops an arm through each of Jae’s and Sungjin’s and drags them away. I see the youngest scratch his head and follow his hyungs. 

When Jaehee lifts her head from her phone, the four boys are quite far down the fairly crowded street. “Let’s go, Jaehee?” I ask, and stepped from the curb, onto the sidewalk. 

A few paces down the road, we pass through a convenience store. As if we’re set on synchronized mode, we turn to each other with grins on our faces. “Ice cream?” I ask. “Ice cream!” she answers. “Okay! I’ll text Wonpil and let them go home first. We are still on a date, after all,” I add. 

After paying at the cashier, we sit at the stools facing the street. “You look so happy with just that an ice cream, Jaehee,” I comment. 

“You’re also smiling, Younghyun,” she retorts.

“Why wouldn’t I be smiling? I enjoyed today, too much, actually, that I missed the timing to tell you something.” 

She only hums in response, and I let her finish her cone before I continued. 

“Jaehee,” I start, waiting for her to look at me. When she does, I reached my hands towards her shoulders, and turn her to face me. She’s surprised but is nevertheless holding my gaze. 

I continue, “Maybe it's weird to say that I like you as more than my brother's best friend, as more than a friend. But I think I do, and for quite a while now. I never had the courage back home because by the time I was sure, you were leaving already, and it was too much of a déjà vu that I got frozen in my tracks.” 

Her eyes widen and her lips start to part, as if to reply, but I move my hands from her shoulders to her wrists, interrupting her thoughts. She looks at her wrists, and then I slide it further to envelope my hands over hers. Jaehee then raises her head, and peers at me with confused eyes. 

I smile at her before speaking again. “I thought that maybe we could be friends first so we could get to know each other more. But obviously that doesn't work on you. Case in point, is your neighbor-hoobae. Anyway, maybe just don't run away from me too much is all I ask? I like you, Lee Jaehee, and I do want to get to know you more.” 

“Younghyun,” she begins. 

“You owe me two more dates and a tour for the dashing distraction I delivered, Jaehee.” 

She smiles, and it might be my imagination, but I feel her grip my hands for a fleeting second.

"Okay,” she replies.

 

**Kim Wonpil**

It was a fun and interesting day, even if tiring and a bit odd. Seeing Jaehee after two years was a happy feeling, and I even got to meet her friends without me stubbornly insisting her to introduce me to them. 

After dinner, I go out on a limb to give Jaehee and Younghyun-hyung some space. We ended up walking ahead of my almost couple, Dowoon and Sungjin leading the way. Beside me, Jae coughs, probably to get my attention. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Wonpil.” He smiles at me, and I stop myself before blurting out a compliment about his eyes. Instead I reply, “The honor is mine, Jae. Can I call you by that name?”

Jae nods, “Sure, that’s what everyone else calls me.” He then takes a deep breath, and meets my eyes, “Wonpil?” I raise an eyebrow in response, urging him to continue. 

He exhales loudly and then looks at me. “You know that I like Jaehee, right?” I nod, trying to hide my surprise with a gentle smile. He carries on, “It was only Jaehee who played blind to my intentions. Even you, all the way from Korea, knew my feelings for her.” Jae pauses to look at me, and I give him a sympathetic smile. “So, does Younghyun like her?”  

Astonished at Jae’s straightforwardness, I return the favor even if he’s my hyung’s rival. “You know Jae, Younghyun-hyung never really told me that outright, but I assume and am 101% sure that he's been harboring feelings for her for years now.” 

“So why did he never act on it?” 

“He had his own issues, Jae.” 

Jae hums to take that information in. Then he announces, “Did you know that I liked her immediately?” 

“You did? Like love at first sight?” 

“That’s one way to call it.” 

“Jae, why are you telling me this?” 

“Wonpil you're Jaehee’s best friend. I just want to let you know that my feelings for her are sincere and I want to make her happy.” 

“It's not up to me, Jae.” 

“I know. And you're the support team of the competition. But you're also very important to Jaehee.” 

“You're a good guy, Jae.”  
  
“I hope Jaehee thinks the same thing, and more.” Jae smiles, a mix of hope and sadness in it.

He then looks behind, craning his neck to look for Younghyun and Jaehee. As if on cue, I receive a message from my hyung: “Do me a favor and go back home ahead of us, Pil?” I smirk and type in reply, “This is your captain speaking, your commands have been received. Consider it done.” 

Jae apparently sees me smiling to myself, because he asks, “What are you smiling about Wonpil?” 

“Hyung said that we should go ahead home and not wait for them,” I respond. 

“Oh.” He contemplates what to say, and then he finally speaks. We’re at the train station entrance now. “Wonpil, I will make sure that this is the last opportunity he’s gonna get.” 

I grin at him, excited at the issued challenge. “Once again Jae, it’s not just up to you.”  
  
“Watch me, Wonpil.” He smirks, and we all go home.


	14. Lean on Me

**14\. Lean On Me**

_Your pretty face is smudged with tears_  
_I know you can’t stop right away_  
_But lean on me even if it’s just for a moment_  
_I hope your heart will feel at rest_

 

**Kim Wonpil**

I return straight to our hotel, a few streets away from Jaehee's apartment. This trip to Japan is foremost a vacation for me and our friends, and secondly an advanced welcoming committee for Jaehee's coming home. The days leading to my flight was marred by Jaehee's suddenly eventful life, that while the surprise was part of the plan, pulling it off depended on her state of mind.

On the day Jaehee went off-grid, Younghyun-hyung concocted a plan that even I wasn't sure was going to work. Later that night, he had added a few days to our hotel reservation and shared with me a sketch of tomorrow's attempt, and I wished him luck.

An attempt that turned out to be more than successful, because we both didn't expect her to let him into her bubble.

I flew on Wednesday and had a challenging navigation day. Later that afternoon, when I saw them walking together as they exited the park, they weren't exactly lovers but there is a pleasant spark that is definitely a mark of something more than friendship. Then we "coincidentally" run into Jae and company. I managed to get Jaehee and Younghyun-hyung alone by the end of the day, hoping that my dear brother can somehow still keep his momentum.

Sitting in this hotel room, I can't help but wonder again why it took this long for my ship to sail, and why did a Park Jaehyung have to overlap and take action at the same time. I do have an answer for the first half of that, but for the latter, I don't have any. Timing is always tricky concept.

It was a treat to watch Younghyun-hyung fall for Jaehee, ever so slowly. His hesitation and denial was frustrating to watch, though.

So when Jaehee announced her crush on him, it felt like the universe was asking me to conspire with her. I encouraged Jaehee and eventually she took steps, sending him texts and being a tiny bit more friendly with him when she's in our home.

And then the frustration was back, because hyung never flirted back, not even a little. Jaehee felt like there was no response from Younghyun-hyung, and she didn't want to push herself onto someone who is clearly not interested. She was too tired of having to work too much for a crush that wasn’t moving forward.

I can only assume, but I've been observing from too near a perspective to be wrong. So this is what I know: Younghyun-hyung didn't know what to do with Jaehee's sudden attention at the time. One day, I began suggesting Jaehee as a prospect, which eventually evolved into a full blown shipping. He always had an excuse for not giving my dating advice a chance, and acted as if he's just not interested, even if his demeanor betrays him every time Jaehee comes over.

My mulling is interrupted by Younghyun-hyung's entrance to our room. I grin widely at him and ask, "How was it?" 

He smirks at me as he sat at the edge of the bed. “She knows," he simply says.

I clap my hands together in glee. “You confessed?”

“Yep," he replies.

"Omo! Finally! How did Jaehee take it?"

Hyung shrugs. “She actually took it better than I expected. I also asked her not to run away, and I sincerely hope she doesn't. Anyway, she’s waiting for you.”

I pat his shoulder. "Good job, hyung. I'll take over from here. Have a good night."

As I pick up my bag, I turn to him “Hyung, you never told me explicitly that you liked her, you know?”

Younghyun-hyung smiles to himself. “I wanted Jaehee to be the first one I say it out loud to.”

**Lee Jaehee**

It's been a few minutes since I arrived back at my apartment, and I'm on my small couch, staring at the door.Everything that happened during the past four days finally dawns on me. How much I enjoyed last Sunday with Jae, and how I hid away after he confessed. How I let Younghyun be the distraction I needed, how I got roped into another date, and alas, how he sprung that confession on me. I am not sure where I got my composure from, but every single thing that I've swept under my rug is now haunting me. I run to the bedroom and scream into my pillow.

This is interrupted by the door opening, and I pace back into the living room and see Wonpil standing there with his arms stretched out, ready to take me in for a hug. "Hey, Jaehee," he greets, a warm smile on his face. I let myself indulge in the safety of his embrace.

He sways us back and forth, a slow rhythm that calms me. He then whispers, "You were screaming on your pillow again." I let out a small chuckle in response.

He then asks, "Are we gonna stand here for the whole night or are you finally gonna spill everything out to your best friend?"

 

An hour later, Wonpil and I are in our pajamas. He's sprawled on my bed, his head leaning on his propped elbow. I'm sitting on the bean bag chair beside the bed. I've already recalled the events of the past few days: from his set-up, to the dinner, to the astonishing number of dates I was in, and to the confessions I've received. Hearing it accounted with my own voice made every other feelings more loud and confusing, so right now I'm just dazed and cursing under my breath. Wonpil just watches me, amusement shining in his eyes.

"Wonpil-ah!" I cried, at a loss for words. He tilts his head, urging me to find them. "Yes, Jaehee-yah?"

I pause, staring at the wall beside him. I finally meet his eyes and say, "What the hell is happening?"

Wonpil gently smiles at me and replies, "Jaehee, is it really unbelievable to you that people can like you romantically?"

I take a deep breath, and let the storm of thoughts spill. "Before being comfortable with being single, I remember thinking briefly that getting cheated on was my fault. When I got over that and properly blamed him, I ended up thinking that maybe I'm just not likeable.

I have made strides and truly believe otherwise, but I may have put that in a box somewhere, and maybe I still sometimes think that I _am_ a handful and no one can possibly be attracted to me. And suddenly, there's two perfectly eligible, handsome, smart human beings who think otherwise."

The slight furrow of Wonpil's eyebrows that crosses his expression is immediately gone, his lips pressed on a thin line as he ponders how to respond. He then sits up, and reaches for my hands. "Jaehee, you do know that you're beautiful and smart and kind, right?"

I exhale a slow sigh. "Yes, I know that, Pil. It's just hard to believe that others think the same way, and even liking me romantically for it. Jae's words still ring in my head, calling me an amazing person and a heap of other superlatives that I don't think I deserve."

"But you _do_ deserve all of those, Jaehee." He swings our hands up and down with each word, as if emphasizing his point.

I couldn't help but make a small smile at his words and gestures. "I know, Pil, I'm working on believing that I do."

He releases my hands and pats my head. "That's good to hear, Jaehee." Wonpil leans onto the headboard, stretching his legs as he says, "I have another question."

"Go ahead, Pil," I say, bracing myself.

"So how was it going out with Jae and Younghyun-hyung?"

There are several ways to answer this question. I have already narrated what happened the past few days, so I opt for another path. “Wonpil, I do understand that one goes on a date with someone you're at the very least attracted to. Until their confessions, it was just a fun day with sprinkled heart-fluttering moments.

In hindsight, I’m now wondering if going on consecutive dates was a good idea. I’m trying to figure out what I feel, but at the same time, I need more time.”

Wonpil folds his legs and crosses them, and asks, “Would you like some of my perspective?” I nod in response.

“Jaehee, people can date even if it's one-sided attraction. In your case, it’s because sometimes you either want to reconfirm your long-standing attraction or he's a really good friend and you think that a romance with him doesn't sound so bad.

You'redoing fine, and take all the time you need, but please just be honest with your feelings so you don't drag one or both of them for too long. What did they say again about your response to their confession?”

“That they’re not in a hurry,” I reply.

“Then why should you be?” He asks.

I open and close my mouth, trying to form my thoughts into spoken words. Finally, I say, “Because they’re investing feelings and time and effort and I don’t want those to go to waste.”

Wonpil slouches and levels his face with mine. “I’m pretty sure that you’re a waste of no one’s time, moreso of people who would love to spend time with you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Pil. I’ve known them both for a while now, but I don't think I like either enough to ‘choose’ so that I can avoid hurting the other too much. My god, I am cringing at that word. Am I really that great to be the one doing the choosing?”

This earns me a look from Wonpil, his eyes wide and biting his lower lip in reprimand. He speaks in a stern voice, saying, "Jaehee. What do you think? We just talked about this literally a few minutes ago?"

I stick my tongue out at him and he just laughs at my childish response. Eventually I tell him, "Yes, I know, I know. All of these really hasn't sunk yet, I guess. Give me a few more moments. I swear I'm working on it."

Wonpil’s expression softens and his one hand reaches to cup one side of my face. "Love yourself a bit more, will you?" I tap his hand as I promise, “I will, Wonpil.”

I stretch my hands up and look at the clock. It’s already been a while since we’ve started talking. I definitely missed Wonpil, and I feel lucky to have such a warm person listen to my worries. He calls for me to sit on the bed too, our backs now leaning onto the headboard.

“Wonpil,” I call for him. “I can't help but wonder though, how sure are we that their feelings are strong enough to last more than a few more dates?”

“Well, first of all, you deserve to have all the love in the world." he pauses and let that sink in.

“Second of all, to answer your question, you can't know for sure. Most of the time, it's trial and error. But in your case…” he hangs his sentence in mid-air, and I turn to him to ask why. “What about my case?”

“I don’t think Jae and Younghyun-hyung just decided on a whim that they have feelings for you. Jae’s liked you since you’ve been friends, even I could tell that. And Younghyun-hyung, well, he, uhm,” he scratches his head, looks at me timidly, and then bursts out, “Look, it’s not my place to tell, okay?”  
  
“Sure, no pressure Pil, calm down,” I tell him, as I laugh at his monologue. His face is now enclosed in his palms, mumbling, “I’ve said too much again, my goodness.”

It’s probably the right timing to press a quick pause, so I give him space. “Wonpil, I am now taking a quick water break. Do you want anything?”

 

 _  
_ Once I re-entered the bedroom, Wonpil seems to have calmed himself down because he immediately restarts our conversation. “Jaehee, why did you let hyung into your isolation when you could have just said no?”

I sit down at the edge of the bed, placing the glasses of water on the bedside table. “I don’t know either, Pil. At first I felt bad for ditching my promise to him. And then when we hung out together, it was an effective way for me to escape from Jae and his confession.”

"Why did you need the escape?"

"Because I didn't know how to handle it. I didn't want to process yet how I feel for Jae. He’s a really good friend. I even had a small crush on him for a while.” Wonpil widens his eyes at the revelation, but doesn’t say anything. “I will always admire his artistic side, Pil. He’s fun to be with, he’s funny and goofy and really caring. When I try to recall the things he did for me, I want to smack myself for being insensitive and not seeing his feelings. Jae deserves a great girl, and I am not sure yet if I am that person.” I slide beside him, and I ask, “Why do you think Jae confessed when I’m leaving in a few weeks?”

Wonpil turns to me and replies, “Not everything is governed by logic, my dear.” And I had to smirk at that remark.

He then chides, “You know Jaehee, I’ve never known you to let anyone in on your off-the-grid days. Not even me, your best friend, gets to do that. And so let me get back to my original question and be more specific. What do you think of Younghyun-hyung?”

I raise an eyebrow at him and he just shrugs. “I know I said a few years back that I have a crush on your brother, Piri. And his sudden appearance here in Tokyo made me remember why I was attracted to him. But I also remember how he didn't seem interested back then, so I moved on and that was all it was, a little crush on my best friend's older brother. An admiration that somehow still persists, because, well, your hyung is a hell of a catch.”

We lapse into catch-up conversation afterwards, until well after midnight. One of us yawned and we both slipped into the covers at the same time, a silent agreement to finally sleep. I stand up to turn off the lights, and when I returned to the bed and rested my head on the pillow, I realize that I have one final thing to say. “Wonpil are you asleep?”

“Nope,” he answers.

“You know,” I start. He hums in response.

I continue, "Probably the only reason I'm emotionally strong is because I'm good at distracting myself. I often refuse to face my issues head-on, and instead wait until it simmers down and hopefully when it does I have forgotten about it. I have too many baggage, don’t I?”

“Jaehee, that's a defense mechanism that is effective for you. And I don't think you're escaping, either. Another perspective is this: you don't let your emotions overwhelm you and instead reexamine them at a calmer time.

Besides, everyone has a baggage or two on them. And yet you remain to give people the benefit of the doubt, to trust even at the possibility of betrayal. You’re doing well, Jaehee, but you have to be less hard on yourself, to be kinder on yourself.”

“Thank you, Pil, I needed to hear that.” I hold his hand under the sheets.

He presses it tightly, and then says, “But you've built a wall around you, Jaehee. You need to let people into your life again. I might be biased, but seeing how you preferred to spend the day with Younghyun-hyung, practically a stranger, instead of talking to me; and you even had a great day with Jae, too; it's a good step forward. Just enjoy the attention right now, okay?"

I squeeze his hand in response, and we drifted off to sleep.

**Park Jaehyung**

The next day, I wait for Jaehee to start her morning routine, intending to run with her. When the door to her apartment opened at 8 AM, an hour later than her usual run, a flustered Wonpil comes out.

“She’s going to kill me,” he mutters under his breath as he ties his shoe laces. He notices me standing beside him and he greets me, “Good morning, Jae. I gotta go, see you tomorrow!” And he runs off.

Jaehee walks out, and when our eyes meet, it's somehow awkward again. We're being awkward and I hate this, but at the same time it could mean that I'm visible, that she sees me, finally.

“Good morning, Jaehee,” I tell her.

“Hey Jae,” she replies, and finally the awkwardness dissipates when she smiles. “Are you running with me today?” she asks, issuing a challenge. And now we’re back to normal, I guess.

 

What we did was more of a jog than run, and Jaehee laughs at me several times for struggling to keep up. After an hour and a half, we are now sitting in the nearby park. I am catching my breath while she checks her phone. She’s swooning over a cat video and she shows it to me, our shoulders leaning into each other, the personal space gone easily, as usual. Jaehee then grows quiet. We sit in easy silence, as we often do. After a while, she speaks. “Jae, I don’t have an answer for you yet, is that okay?”

Jaehee’s staring at her feet, and I call for her to look at me, “Hey Jae.”

She lifts her head and meets my eyes, and then I tell her, “Jaehee, you just have to receive my adoration and efforts, let it sway you if it does and add weight to what we have. I don't need anything else, not right now. What I am most scared of is losing you as a friend.”

“You are not going to lose me,” she assures me. And I hold on to that.

We walk back to the apartment, agreeing to meet an hour later so I can help her with shopping for the food she’ll prepare for tomorrow’s hanami.

After the trip to the grocery store, we sat at a nearby cafe to eat lunch. After she finishes her dessert, Jaehee uncharacteristically stares at me, and I grow uneasy at the attention (even if I do admit to enjoying it).

“Is there something on my face, Jaehee-yah?” I ask her.

She rests her chin onto her palms, and says, "Jae, this is sudden, but have I ever told you how my ex broke up with me?"

I widen my eyes in surprise, sudden is definitely an understatement. "All I know is that he cheated on you,” I reply, “no other details."

She tilts her head a bit. "Well, would you like to know?"

I sit up straight and put my interlaced hands over the table. "Only if you feel okay sharing it."

A small smile crosses her face. "Thanks, Jae. I figured that since you were honest with your feelings, you deserve to know some of my baggage."

"I like you for all of who you are, Jaehee, all of your check-in luggage, carry-on backpack, etcetera, included."

She laughs at my statement, then warns, "Say only the things you mean, Jae."

She takes a deep breath before continuing, "So here it goes: One afternoon, I received a message from Wonpil asking if I'm okay. It was out of nowhere, and somehow, I sensed that something was wrong.

Piri then asked if my ex and I finally broke up, and then he sent me my ex’s changed Facebook profile photo, a selfie with another girl. I tried reaching out to my ex but he only sent me one text, a very short apology. I've never heard from him since then."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Jaehee," is all I say, because I am trying to tame my anger for that despicable person.

Jaehee sits up straight, her hands on the table. "Me too, though I believe I've moved on already. But you see, he was the last person I thought of to cheat on me. In hindsight, him being a big ass of a coward wasn't so surprising; and I'm glad that I was able to cut him off instantly.

The relationship was barely a passing grade in its last few years. But I was a hard-headed girl who relished the few happy moments despite the overwhelming feelings of loneliness and being unloved that I felt."

I reach my hand across the table to put it over hers. She stares at it and smiles softly.

"There are a lot of baggages to account for, Jae. I've managed to throw away some by loving myself a bit more; and with the others, they've become lighter as I practice to trust in the goodness of people. I think the heaviest of them all is that I'm not yet willing to let myself pour out that much love; not without being scared that it would just be discarded in the end."

I squeeze her hand, and I look straight into her eyes as I tell her several things. “Jaehee, I've only known you for six or so months but we've been friends since the moment you walked through our apartment door. We've been on trips together with Sungjin and Dowoon, and I've seen you lose your temper and immediately regret it, get frustrated and stressed and deal with it in both grace and inelegance.

I've seen you at some of your worst and your best. Nothing that you say is going to make me like you less. Nor do I expect you to return my feelings any time soon. Jaehee, love isn't a transaction were you expect the same amount from both sides, accounting for where it goes and how it's received."

"I perfectly understand that, Jae. But I can't help it. I'm improving though, I think?"

"Jaehee, you need to give yourself more credit. You're already pouring out love and good things into the world without expecting anything in return. Maybe being in a romantic relationship, preferably with me, isn't that much different?" I move to sit beside her, and put my arms around her.

"Thanks for you kind words, Jae." She leans her head on my shoulder, and then quickly removes it. "Ah, I shouldn't be doing these kinds of things anymore, huh? Sorry."

I put her head back on my shoulder. "No apologies needed, Jaehee, my lady. And all the more you should continue doing these. Just be you. I'll be me. Whatever we will become, we can figure it out later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, finally we heard from Jaehee's POV after 3 chapters hahaha


	15. Like That Sun

**15\. Like That Sun**  
_Forget everything, put it all down_  
_Trust me and follow me_  
_Forget everything, put it all down_  
_Throw it all away except for me_

**  
Park Sungjin**

I wake up earlier than usual for my morning run, after being informed by Jae last night, that he wants to be Jaehee’s running partner today.

“Yanamseyin, Sungjin-ah?” Jae abbreviated. We were at the dining table, drinking a can of beer before retreating for the night. I replied, “Yes Jae, I get what you’re saying. I’ll start my run at an earlier time and out of our usual route so you and Jaehee could spend time together, alone.”

Dowoon snickers, as he took a gulp of his drink. He side-glances at me and catches my inquiring expression. “Your penchant for details will always be amusing to me, hyung.” And he shrugs as he took another swig of his beer.

Jae decided to intervene, saying, “Thanks Sungjin. Just get a few minute head start is all I ask.”

Without my normal route, I try to take the streets I haven’t explored, and somehow ended up near the train station. I catch my breath as I stand near a stoplight, checking my phone for the map to decide what route to take back home. Beside me, I hear a familiar language that I only use when talking to my roommates and my neighbor.

"Why does Jaehee live far away from the city center again?"  
"Wonpil said it's because the housing is cheaper here."  
"Where _is_ he? Isn't he supposed to pick us up from here?"  
"We're even lucky to have gotten this far without getting lost."

And those are two familiar names. I take a look at them and they’re two Koreans, with luggages on them. I cough a bit to get their attention. My eyes meet with the girl whose shoulder length hair have slight curls on them. She realizes that I am Korean, and she gives a tentative smile. I return it with the most friendly grin I have on my arsenal, and greet them. “Hi, I’m Park Sungjin. I overheard your conversation, are you perhaps Lee Jaehee and Kim Wonpil’s friends?” Her eyes widen and nods slowly, and turns to the other girl she’s with, who answers on their behalf. “Lee Jaehee the grad student and Kim Wonpil the tourist?”

“Yeah, Wonpil’s brother, Younghyun, is here as well,” I add.

“Okay, you seem legit, Park Sungjin. I’m Choi Nara, Wonpil’s friend from work and Jaehee’s friend from college.” We shake hands, her kind smile and high energy quite similar to Wonpil’s.

The pretty girl casually tucks a loose strand of hair to her ear, and offers her hand. “You’re a lifesaver Sungjin-ssi. I’m Cho Haejin, Jaehee’s college friend.”

I take her hand and smile at her. Jaehee has beautiful friends, huh. “You’re on your way to Wonpil’s hotel or Jaehee’s apartment?”

Haejin replies, adjusting her backpack. “We’re supposed to have a reservation at a hotel already.” She shows me the details from her phone, our shoulders a bit too close for strangers.

“I can take you there, I’m on my way back anyway,” I tell them. “Also, let me take your backpack, Haejin-ssi. And one or your luggage, Nara-ssi.” I extend both of my hands, and they’re both hesitant. “We will all stand here until you let me help you with your things,” I insist, and I bob my eyebrows up and down for a bit of comic relief. They both exhale a small laugh, and let me help them.

As we walk back into our neighborhood, I was able to talk at length with Haejin, while Nara kept on calling Wonpil on the phone, cussing him under her breath. "Why the hell are you not answering your phone, Kim Wonpil!!! I will kill you once I see your face,” Nara says out loud. 

"Will Wonpil be okay?” I jokingly ask Haejin.

“I bet that one hug from Wonpil and all that anger will dissipate,” she replies with a shrug, followed by a knowing laugh.

“Are they together?” I ask.

Haejin smirks, looking at me. “Do me a favor and please do ask them that later?”

“Aha, is that what’s going on?” There are too many couples here who are not together but should be. “I’m at your service, I’ll nonchalantly inquire them.”

“Nara-ssi,” I turn my head and check if she heard me. She smiles at me and replies, “Yes?” I had to laugh a bit at the instant change of expression. She raises an inquiring eyebrow. I continue, “Wonpil slept over at Jaehee’s last night, he probably overslept. Why don’t you send him a message to meet you at the hotel instead so he won’t be a lost dog trying to look for you later.”

“I kind of want to take revenge and let him be a lost dog, but that will delay our tour today, so I’ll make him pay for another time. I’ll take your advice instead, Sungjin-ssi. Thanks.”

The three of us arrive at the lodging, both girls plopping on the small lobby’s sofa as I help them with checking-in. Haejin is suddenly beside me and says, “I’ll take it from here Sungjin-ssi. Take a seat first?” Before I could answer, I see from my periphery how a wild Kim Wonpil arrives. Gathering everyone’s attention, his shortness of breath indicates that he was running. His hands are on his knees and he says in between lungfuls of air, "thank. goodness. you. made. it. here. safe."

I glimpse at Nara, whose stern expression melts to worry, and hands him the glass of her welcome drink. "Sit down, Piri."

Wonpil gulps the water down and envelopes her into a hug. "I'm sorry Nara, I overslept at Jaehee's. Please don't be too mad at me." 

Nara pats Wonpil's hair and replies, "Make it up to us with a good day tour and free lunch and you're forgiven." He breaks the embrace, a gummy smile brightening his face. "Deal!" he exclaims.

Beside me, Haejin takes a video of the whole thing. She puts down her phone and tuts jokingly, "Told you, right? God, being a third wheel to a not-yet-dating-but-should-be couple sucks."

Smirking at the familiarity of her dilemma, I should probably take a page from Wonpil and Jae’s books and learn.

“Haejin-ssi,” I call her. When we lock eyes, she raises a brow. I gather courage and a split-second later, I ask her,  "I'm free today, I can be your plus-one and tour guide if you want." 

Her eyebrows knot into a furrow, a playful glint in her eyes as she responds, "If that practical suggestion is your way of asking me out, I have no objections." Haejin smiles at me and I hold her stare, and before I could respond, she turns away to tease Wonpil. "I'm here too, Kim Wonpil. Where's my apology hug?" 

And the kid briefly embraces her, saying, "Haejin-noona, you made it!" Wonpil then very belatedly notices me, “Sungjin-hyung, you helped them? Thank you so much!” He moves in for what seems like an embrace directed at me, so I hold his right shoulder at arm's length and pat his left shoulder. “I bumped into them while on my morning run, it’s okay Wonpil.”

He makes a confused expression at my gesture, and Haejin pseudo-whispers, “Pil, don’t hug strangers.” And she laughs. I remove my hands and look at her, mouthing, “Thanks.” Once again, she laughs.

Haejin then tells them, “Sungjin here offered to be our tour guide, will that be okay?”

I nod. “Let me peek at your itinerary so I can show you around without you guys worrying about the train transfers and such. Also, Haejin thinks that it would be better to have one more to your group so she won’t be a third-wheel to you two.”

A flurry of sentences continued and stopped mid-way ensues:

“We’re not--” Wonpil starts, looking hesitantly at Nara.

“A couple…” Nara finishes the sentence with gritted smile, looking wide-eyed at Haejin.

“Haejin, you’re not a third-wheel, gosh I’m sorry if you felt that way,” Wonpil interjects, looking genuinely worried for Haejin.

Nara sighs, and announces directing a look at me “We’re not a couple, Sungjin-ssi. Wonpil is what you could call an office bestfriend, if you're into labels.”

Wonpil gazes at her, his usual cheery smile hardening as he clenches his jaw.

Nara finally looks at him too, and whispers, “What?” And Wonpil just shakes his head.

The receptionist calls for our attention and guides them to their room. In the elevator, Wonpil asks Nara, “Why weren’t _you_ answering your phone?”

Nara furrows her eyebrows at him, and shows her call history. “You were calling my local number, weren’t you?” An expression of understanding crosses Wonpil’s face, and he scratches his head, an apologetic grin on his face.

Nara sarcastically copies Wonpil’s expression, “It’s a good thing that Sungjin offered help. Anyway, I think Haejin already forgot about you the moment she laid eyes on this kind gentleman. Too smitten, but who could blame her. Are you single, perhaps?" Wonpil nudges her with his elbow. 

I reply, “I am.” Then, I smirk as I look at Haejin beside me, who returns my gaze. I ask, “You’re smitten?” She shrugs and says in response, “Are you?” We’re both smiling at each other, and I return another shrug in reply.

It’s gonna be a great day ahead.

  
  
**Kang Younghyun**

Last night, I confessed to Jaehee while eating ice cream, and though she looked very surprised, she was calm. Given that her response to Jaehyung’s confession was retreating to her shell, I braced myself for the same treatment. Or even worse. It’s the second confession she’s received in the span of four days. I can’t blame her if she’d want to run away. But she didn’t, not that night.

The walk from the convenience store to the train station felt longer than it actually was. Our hands kept on brushing and when she finally stuffed them into her coat's pockets, I commented, "Jaehee-yah, why are you making it hard for me to hold your hand?"

She just rolls her eyes at my remark, and let a few seconds pass before she changing the topic. "Does the hanami and touring you and Wonpil around really doesn't count as payback?"

"You are dodging my hand-holding comment, but I'll forgive you. And to answer your question, it only counts if it's just you and me." Jaehee’s eyebrows met to convey slight annoyance, which was broken by a small laugh. She then replied, “Fine, whatever you say Mr. Kang.”

Sitting in front of Jaehee's apartment door at two in the afternoon the next day, my thoughts scatter away as I hear her voice coming up the stairs. We agreed to meet after lunch to prepare and cook for tomorrow’s hanami. Well, I _strongly_ insisted since I knew that the rival will also be keeping her company today.

And speak of the devil, as I stand up, my eyes meet with Jaehyung’s, and then Jaehee’s. The former clicks his tongue too loudly, while the latter briefly widens her eyes in surprise. “Younghyun, you’re here. Did you eat lunch yet?” she asks.

I try to dispel the budding jealousy, convincing myself that it’s not an emotion that I need today, not for this particular… fight. Taking the grocery bags from her as she unlocks her door, I answer her, “I’ll have to say no to a lunch date this time, Jaehee. I already ate.”

She abruptly turns to me, and takes the bag from my right hand. Feigning annoyance, she responds, “That’s not what I asked.” Her brows unfurrow and I can’t see her facial expression as she gets inside the apartment, but I can almost hear her playful scoff as she murmurs, “Where do you even get the confidence to say that?”

Once inside, Jaehee goes to her room while Jaehyung puts the groceries on the table, some of them into the cabinets and the refrigerator. His sense of domestic familiarity in Jaehee’s home is something that I try to ignore as Jaehee joins us in the kitchen and lays out the ingredients and kitchen tools on the table.

Half an hour later, the three of us are in the kitchen preparing the food for tomorrow. I watch as Jaehee chops vegetables for the kimbap on one side of the table, while Jaehyung beats the eggs in a transparent bowl on the other.

"Younghyun, please cut those kimchi properly and stop being distracted?" Jaehee says as she glances towards my work in the middle. 

"Sorry Jaehee, you just look really stunning right now."

Jaehyung quips, "Right in front my salad, really?

I ignore his remark and instead watch as Jaehee closes her eyes and exhales impatiently. She throws her hands down near the table's edge, an angry smile on her face. "If you two can't be friends, why are you here again? I clearly remember telling the both of you last night, that I can manage the preparations by myself."

I remove the plastic gloves and reach out to push back a strand of her hair. Jaehee looks intently at my hand, and when I finish the gesture, she says, "Younghyun-ssi, you know that I'm holding a knife right now, right?"

I once again resume my kimchi duty, and I reply, "Yes, but I trust that you'll never have the intention of hurting me, right? Not after I revealed my feelings for you last night?"

Jaehee looks up at me wide-eyed, catching my stare. She hangs her mouth open in disbelief and then closes it, exhaling in defeat. I wink at her and she just rolls her eyes, shakes her head, and smirks. I barely hear Jaehyung say, “Noted, but I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Shifting her gaze to Jaehyung who has returned to eagerly whisking the eggs, she laughs. "Hey Jae, your arms are gonna fall off already, I think that's enough scrambling?" He replies, “You sure?” She moves beside him and nods. “Yep, that’s fine. Good job, Jae,” she compliments him, patting his head in lighthearted mockery.

“Where’s my compli,--” I start, but was interrupted when the doorbell rings and Jaehee approaches the door to let in a Dowoon, with grocery bags on both of his arms.

"Noona,” he whines, “Sungjin-hyung left me to cook the kimchi stew alone." The young boy pouts and sits on the sofa, and Jaehee has no problem with sitting beside him. She asks, "That's unusual. Where'd he go?"

"He bumped into your other friends this morning and all he said is that he's touring them around." Dowoon shrugs, and then adds, "he didn't even invite me."

A brief smirk crosses Jaehee's face and once it was gone, she comments, "And I was wondering why none of them haven't contacted me yet for help. I was expecting them to get lost in this city, but Sungjin was their tour guide in shining armor, huh." 

It didn't even cross my mind that my brother might have needed help. Too focused on Jaehee, which I’m sure is anexcuse that Wonpil will eat up. Well it might not be needed, considering that he’s as distracted as I am.

Then she asks Dowoon, "You need my help?" He nods, and then after looking to the kitchen, he shakes his head. "Actually, noona, I can do it by myself. I just wanted to be an audience to this," he waves his hand towards the kitchen."

I chide, "Maybe your roommate over here could give you a hand. Take him away, pretty please?"

Dowoon mulls it over and I see Jaehyung give him a reprimanding stare. "Ah Younghyun-hyung," he starts, "I like you but I am loyal to my alliance." He then shoots a finger heart to Jaehyung's direction, and I can't help but laugh.

Jaehee ruffles Dowoon's hair, her fondness for him unmasked as she smiles at him. "Please don't ever change, Dowoon-ah." The kid hugs her, "Ah noona you're gonna make me cry." Jaehee just laughs as he undoes his embrace on her, and then she adds, "If you don't need anybody's help, you're here just to lounge?"

"Actually, how about noona helps me and we leave those two alone?" Dowoon suddenly suggests. "We'll set up a webcam, like a baby monitor you know. And then let's bet on who kills the other first. It'll be fun, Jaehee-noona." He grins, and she laughs in response. Jae reacts, "How about I kill you now, Dowoon-ssi?"

The two bicker for a bit, and I see Jaehee glance at her watch. “Dowoon-ah,” she says, “just tell Sungjin to cook early in the morning tomorrow. We’ll leave late in the morning anyway. For now, take over for me in the kitchen, and prepare the ingredients. I’ll finish them later tonight. I’ll be right back.” Jaehee says all of these fast and with such an authoritative that no one of us dared question her. She then picks up her purse and leaves the apartment.

Jaehee returns half an hour later, with snacks she bought from the convenience store. She announces, “Dowoon, Jae, Younghyun, come here to the living room.” All of us move and she makes us sit on the floor. “Pick a movie to watch and let me work on something,in peace, okay?”

“A job application?” I dared to ask. Jaehee nods, “Yeah, just need to finish it and send it this afternoon. Did you finish all the preparations?” As if being reprimanded by a teacher, the three of us nod. “Thank you, boys,” she says, smiling, and her air of command evaporates. “See you later.” And she heads to her room to leave us alone.

Jaehyung and I let Dowoon pick a movie, and soon, we were all immersed in the Korean noir film, munching on the chips Jaehee bought. The credits roll, and Jaehyung stands up to knock on Jaehee’s bedroom door before entering. There goes that domestic familiarity again. 

“Youngyun-hyung,” Dowoon tells me, suddenly serious. “The three of us have been friends for only half a year but we’ve gotten really close, especially those two.” He points his chin towards the bedroom. “Obviously you like Jaehee noona, but I feel like Jae-hyung has some sort of dibs on her. I don’t know what my point is, but I am cheering for Jae, okay? No hard feelings, please? I still like you as a hyung.”

I stand up, cleaning my pants of invisible dirt. “Dowoon-ah, it’s not about who liked her first and whatnot. It’s going to be Jaehee’s decision, no one else’s.” I pat his head, “And yes, no hard feelings.”

As I enter her room, I see Jaehee on the bed, asleep, facing away from Jaehyung. Seated on the edge of it, he has his hand on her shoulders and gently waking her up. “Jaehee-yah, we’ll watch another movie and then let’s have dinner okay?” She hums in response and turns to face him. “One more hour, ‘kay?” she replies. Jae tucks a strand of her lose hair, and puts a blanket over her. When he turns towards the door, he seems surprised to see me standing there, but he confidently walks past me and just pats my shoulder. “One more movie, then,” he says as he closes her door.

An hour later, Jaehee emerges from her room, stretching out her arms. She goes straight to the kitchen and Jaehyung and I stand up almost simultaneously. Dowoon holds our arms on his each side, and pulls us down. “Let noona do the work, it’ll be faster that way,” he whispers. Then he shouts at Jaehee, “Noona, you need help?” She replies, “Please just sit there and finish the film, I’ll just clean the kitchen and make something real quick for our dinner.” And we do as told.  
  
  
**Yoon Dowoon**

After the hanami food preparations fiasco last night at Jaehee noona’s, we ate dinner without much incident. The two hyungs seemed to have an unspoken ceasefire, and we talked and joked as we ate, without the flirting.

Which, surprisingly, extended to the hanami. Jaehee noona is in the company of her two sets of friends, with good food and surrounded by Tokyo’s beautiful cherry blossom scenery in Yoyogi Park. 

What is interesting is that we are now a group of two couples, a love triangle, and an eighth wheel. I finally get to see Sungjin-hyung try to impress a girl called Haejin, and take care of her at the same time. Jaehee is seated in between her two friends, Sungjin-hyung’s crush and Nara, who looks like Wonpil’s girl (although this is dispelled very quickly by Nara, for some suspicious reason). Jaehyung-hyung is seated beside Sungjin-hyung, and I am placed between Younghyun-hyung and Jaehyung-hyung.

We’re supposed to tour the visitors after lunch, perhaps the spicy events will commence there. I shall eagerly anticipate them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this sort-of-filler, fluff chapter to compensate for the hiatus. (and for my friends as well hehe). I can't promise to completely flesh out Nara and Haejin's stories but they might be written in a spin-off someday in the future.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed this update. Happy comeback! Sweet chaos, here we come!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fic, MyDay yeorubeuns hihi
> 
> Currently on a semi-hiatus with spurts of updates. On a work-related transition phase in my adult life and I am quite overwhelmed. ಥ⌣ಥ But I swear I will write and update whenever I can.
> 
> Comments? Questions? Hit me up at:  
> twitter: https://twitter.com/joeycholeekang  
> cc: https://curiouscat.me/joeycholeekang


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